In 1950, he entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of Saint Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.

In 1955, he earned a master's degree in political science and a licentiate in philosophy from Saint Louis University.

In 1969, Davis welcomed the admission of the first women students to Georgetown's College of Arts and Sciences.

After retirement in 1989, he directed Georgetown's Foreign Studies Program in Florence, Italy and, in 1990, served as chair of a committee commemorating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Ignatius of Loyola.

[2] At the conclusion of his service as rector in 1997, he remained at the University of Scranton as an associate campus minister and chaplain of the Panuska College of Professional Studies.