One of a kind - Derek Davis

THE broadcaster Derek Davis, who has died aged 67 after a short illness, was one of the generation of journalists whose career ran parallel to Ireland’s transformation from being a relatively poor, insular and agrarian society to what it is today.

Thu, 14 May, 2015 - 01:00

Editorial

He and his peers recorded an almost unimaginable reshaping of our society and it is possible, if not probable, none of their successors will report on such profound change.

The terrible decades-long conflict in his native North would have over-shadowed that career too but its aggression and bitterness never manifested itself in his professional persona. Davis found charm, and he had it in abundance, a far more effective tool than the bludgeon. In later years, he campaigned for marine conservation and was disappointed that we seem so unable to better manage our natural world.

It is unlikely that anyone as avuncular, as calm and as warm, as humane, as Davis would have his success today because he was more than anything a fine, sharp intelligence ready to pounce but hiding behind a broad smile and — nearly always — in a well-cut suit.