John Herbert Davis (October 5, 1904 – February 28, 1988)[1] was an American academic and diplomat, best known in his early career for his work in agribusiness (a term he helped coin), and in his later career for heading the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Davis attended the Iowa State University of Science and Technology, where he earned a bachelor's degree, and the University of Minnesota, where he earned Masters and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics.
[2] He then taught in various positions in the Iowa schools from 1928 to 1939, with a break in 1935–36 during which he worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
[3] From 1939 he became involved in agriculture-related New Deal agencies, working for the Commodity Credit Corporation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and National Wool Marketing Corporation, among other agencies.
[3] Davis left Harvard in 1959 to serve as the fourth Director and first Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East from 1959 to 1963.