Hon. John P. Davis

John P. Davis was born April 11, 1934, in New York and came to the law by an unusual path. He graduated as a mining engineer from the Colorado School of Mines in 1956, served as a first lieutenant and company commander in the U.S. Army's 864th Engineer Battalion, and worked on mining and engineering projects across Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Nevada and California. After returning to California to manage his family's ranch and work as a land surveyor in Mariposa, the legal disputes arising from that work sparked his interest in the law.

Davis attended the U.C. Davis School of Law and moved to Carson City in 1972. His legal career in Nevada included service in the office of the Attorney General and private practice in Minden. He later served as justice of the peace for Smith Valley in Lyon County before ascending to the bench of the Fifth Judicial District Court.

Elected district court judge of the Fifth Judicial District - a vast rural jurisdiction spanning Esmeralda, Mineral and Nye counties - Davis was reelected in 1990 and served more than 20 years on the bench. A lifelong student of history, geology, the classics, mathematics and politics, he brought a love of learning to his work and pursued his many interests until the end of his life. He died January 26, 2011.