Obituary

Marvin Davies, longtime area civil rights activist

Mr. Davies, who protested with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while in college, was a former field secretary for the NAACP.

ST. PETERSBURG - Marvin Davies, a longtime civil rights figure who supported striking garbage workers and pushed for more black teachers, has died at 69.

Mr. Davies, a former field secretary for the NAACP, died Friday (April 25, 2003) at the VA Medical Center at Bay Pines. He had colon cancer, said his daughter, Joi.

As a college student, Mr. Davies protested with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and took part in a series of boycotts in Tallahassee, St. Augustine and Montgomery, Ala. He was tapped at 32 to be the official spokesman for 138 NAACP branches in Florida, serving until 1972.

"My job will be to assist the branches in focusing toward the implementation of the total Civil Rights Act," he said at the time of his appointment in 1966, "and this means implementation of the act in employment, schools, hospitals ... and all other public facilities."

True to his word, he was frequently in the news, pressing governors and legislators, backing St. Petersburg sanitation workers in 1968, speaking out against the death penalty, and urging more financial support for job training and "meaningful employment."

He was the third high-profile civil rights activist to die in the Tampa Bay area in two months. Robert W. "Bob" Saunders, 81, a former state NAACP leader, died March 18 in Tampa. Bob Gilder, 72, who helped build bridges between white and black residents on both sides of Tampa Bay, died Feb. 28, also in Tampa.

"He has truly been a warrior for the rights of black people and minorities around the state," St. Petersburg NAACP president Darryl Rouson said of Davies on Monday. "He never let up trying to improve the condition of his people and to bring understanding to those who do not otherwise understand government and how government should work to the benefit of all people."

Mr. Davies left the NAACP post to serve in a variety of roles, including that of special assistant to then-Gov. Bob Graham.

"Marvin Davies was a friend for over 25 years and a valued member of our administration in Tallahassee, as well as our Senate staff," Graham said in a statement. "He was a consistent voice and force for equal treatment of all people and assuring that all Americans have the opportunity to fulfill their dreams."

In 1996, Mr. Davies was a member of Coalition of African-American Leadership that formed in the wake of civil violence in St. Petersburg. City Hall was picketed to protest an alleged lack of response to calls for economic development efforts in the neighborhoods where the disturbances occurred.

He later served on the Citizens Advisory Commission appointed to supervise federal assistance to the city after the 1996 racial disturbances.

He also was state coordinator of the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation.

He was named NAACP field secretary after working as coordinator of vocational counseling and job development and placement in a U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored man power training program in Tallahassee.

To take on the new responsibilities, he moved here from his hometown of Hampton in Bradford County.

After Army service, he graduated in 1959 from Florida A&M University. FAMU also was where he got much of his education in the civil rights movement, where he met King, Dr. C.K. Steele, Andrew Young and Hosea Williams, he told FlaVour magazine in an interview last year.

Ranked second in a class of 341, he was chosen student of the year. He later studied at the DePaul University College of Law, the University of Florida and Georgia State University.

Survivors include a son, James Sewell Sr., Starke; two daughters, Valerie Bradwell, Daphne, Ala., and Joi Davies, St. Petersburg; two stepdaughters, Robyn Anderson, Atlanta, and Debra Sturgis, Fort Myers; a stepson, Reginald Randolph, Winter Springs; two grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church, 3455 26th Ave. S. The family suggests memorial contributions to the National Institute for Healthful Living Inc., P.O. Box 13681, St. Petersburg, FL 33733-3681.

Zion Hill Mortuary is in charge.

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