Gail Comer Davis, a member of the Matthews Society and the 1890 Society at UNT, died July 8 in Fort Worth, a few days before her 85th birthday. 

She was a dedicated friend of UNT and a nationally recognized leader in nursing education and research. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Baylor University, a master’s in nursing education from the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate in counseling and guidance from Texas Tech University. She held emeritus faculty status at both Texas Woman’s University and Texas Christian University.

Her research focused on chronic pain and was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Nurses Foundation, Sigma Theta Tau International and other groups. After retiring, she researched rural Texas medicine in the late 1800s and early 1900s, particularly related to her grandfather who was a druggist in Bell County.

She and her husband of 63 years, D. Jack Davis — UNT Professor Emeritus of art, former director of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts, and founding dean of the School of Visual Arts (now the College of Visual Arts and Design) — established the D. Jack and Gail C. Davis Dean’s Excellence Endowment to support CVAD. They also created an endowment for the D. Jack Davis Art Education Collection at the UNT Libraries, to support the growth and digitization of the collection.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. July 19 at the Chapel of the First Presbyterian Church, 1500 8th Ave. in Fort Worth, with a reception following at Trinity Terrace, 1600 Texas St. in Fort Worth.