John R. Davis Jr.
Engineer, Entrepreneur, former Military Officer, Philanthropist
Jack Davis has a lifetime record of creating jobs, balancing budgets and growing his technical ceramics company. He has expertise in manufacturing and foreign commerce that spans 60 years.
He is married with 6 children, 13 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren, grew up in Western New York and graduated from Amherst Central High School and from the University at Buffalo with a degree in Industrial Engineering (1955)
Jack served in the Marine Corp. and as a deck officer in the United States Coast Guard. He worked as an engineer for General Motors and the Carborundum Company.
In 1964, Jack founded the I Squared R Element Company, which he still owns and manages. The company is located in Akron, New York and manufactures silicon carbide heating elements, hot surface igniters and molybdenum disilicide heating elements. They are used in high temperature electric furnaces and appliances. The elements are sold to all industrialized nations of the world. The world’s expert on silicon carbide heating elements and their applications.
Jack ran for Congress four times in New York State’s 26th District. Number one on the platform was; save jobs, farms and industries. He lost the elections.
In 2010 Jack and his wife donated five million dollars to the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The University has named the new building, The Barbara and Jack Davis Hall.
Jack Established an Irrevocable Trust to insure that in his absence the company will not be sold, the employees jobs will be safe, the present management philosophy will continue, and the corporate profits will be contributed to the University of Buffalo Foundation. All of the above without end (perpetuity).
Military Branch: Coast Guard
Years Enlisted: 1955-1968