Davis, Rex D. 1924-2008

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Davis, Rex D. 1924-2008

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born June 11, 1924, in Skiatook, OK; died of a colon infection, January 7, 2008, in Bethesda, MD. Government agent, administrator, business executive, consultant, and author. Davis began his career with the Internal Revenue Service in 1949 as a "revenue agent," rooting out moonshiners from their woodland hideouts and disabling their hidden stills. He ended it in 1978 as the director of the newly independent Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Davis then began a new career as a legitimate purveyor of the spirits he had once destroyed by the barrel. After several years as the chair of the Licensed Beverage Information Council, president of the National Association of Beverage Importers, and member of the International Federation of Wine and Spirits, in 1991 Davis became president and chief executive of the company New Europe Wines. He also retained his government connections as executive director of the President's Forum of the Beverage Alcohol Industry until 2001 and historical advisor to the U.S. Department of Justice until 2005. Davis was the author of the book Federal Searches and Seizures (1964).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2008, p. B8.

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