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Jim Davis' Mother Remembered As 'Strong, Giving'

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By WILLIAM MARCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 1, 2007

TAMPA - Cody Fowler Davis, mother of former Tampa U.S. Rep. Jim Davis and a member of the prominent local Fowler family, died Tuesday night at age 76 after an extended illness.

Davis was the granddaughter of Maud Fowler, who developed the town of Temple Terrace, and the daughter of lawyer Cody Fowler, who founded the Fowler White law firm.

She also was a real estate agent and volunteer civic activist in Tampa.

Family members, however, said she viewed her chief accomplishment in life as rearing her three children - son Cody Davis, a Tampa lawyer; daughter Kimberly Davis Reyher, who works in the marine fisheries program of the World Wildlife Fund in Washington; and Jim Davis.

She brought them up almost single-handedly after her divorce from James O. Davis Jr., said her son, whose full name is James O. Davis III. He ran unsuccessfully for governor last year after serving five terms in the House.

In an interview, he said his mother caught polio when she was young, and that caused her severe health problems late in her life.

'She was a wonderful mom, a single parent and a very strong, giving person,' he said.

Cody Fowler Davis was born in 1931, the third and youngest daughter of Cody Fowler and Maude Stewart Fowler. Her grandmother had come to the area in the 1920s as a developer.

Her father took her to New York for treatment of the disease, Jim Davis said. 'She was lucky to survive.'

The polio ended her attendance at Tampa public schools, but she later attended private schools in Washington and Duke University.

In 1951, she traveled the country with her father, then president of the American Bar Association.

She was a volunteer at Tampa General Hospital for 45 years, often working in the emergency room to assist families of those who came for treatment. She also was a member of the Junior League, a board member of the Children's Cancer Center and a court member of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla.

Besides her children, she is survived by her sister Maude Pallard and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, with a reception following in the Parish Hall. Family members have asked, in lieu of flowers, for donations in her name to the Children's Cancer Center or another charity.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

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