“One of the most significant influencers in my life has been Kathryn Davis,” EWI President John Mroz declared. “Up until a week before her passing we were talking about the global situation. Her clarity of mind and purpose—believing fervently in our ability to make this a more peaceful world—was an enormous positive force for so many of us in the field. EWI is a more effective institution because of Kathryn. The world is a better and safer place. Moreover, many of us will keep working as we have driven in large measure by what we learned from Kathryn. She will be sorely missed.”

“Nothing made her happier than utilizing her time, talent, and treasure to engage young minds in an effort to promote world peace,” her daughter Diana Davis Spencer pointed out.

An expert on Russian affairs, Davis discovered a passion for international affairs during her first trip to Russia in 1929.  As The New York Times reported in 1998, “Davis rode on horseback deep into the Caucasus Mountains in search of adventure and an obscure Muslim tribe, subsisted on berries and goats, almost starved, and conceived a lifelong passion for things Soviet and Russian.”

Her doctoral thesis, which was published by Librairie Kundig as a book in 1934, was titled The Soviets at Geneva: The USSR and the League of Nations, 1919-1933. Davis returned to Russia many times and  developed strong relationships with Russian leaders. She celebrated her 95^th birthday with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Davis pledged $10 million to the Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Russian Studies at Harvard, providing a badly needed boost to Russian studies that have seen a general drop in support since the end of the Cold War. She also pledged $11 million to her alma mater, Wellesley College, for international exchange programs with a particular emphasis on countries of the former Soviet bloc.

Davis receives EWI's Peace and Conflict Prevention Prize in 2006.

In the post-Cold War age, Davis remained as passionate as ever about her commitment to disarmament and a further lessening of global tensions. “My challenge to you is to bring about new ideas for preparing for peace instead of preparing for war,” she told the EastWest Institute’s board of directors when she accepted EWI’s 2006 Peace and Conflict Prevention Prize in Potsdam, Germany. 

“Not long ago a duel—by sword or gun—resolved a private dispute,” Davis added. “That’s gone forever. We think it’s an absurdly ridiculous approach to resolve conflict. We need to see the use of weapons of mass destruction as an even more absurd, even more preposterous approach!"

Her extraordinary gifts have allowed EWI to implement programs that help answer that challenge.

Kathryn Davis earned a B.A. in Russian history from Wellesley College (1928), an M.A. from Columbia University (1931) and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies at the University of Geneva (1934).

Her philanthropy over the years was immense and impacted a great many institutions around the globe. She believed deeply in EWI’s mission of tackling seemingly intractable problems and bridging national and cultural divides. “The EastWest Institute is one of the hopes of the world,” she declared. 

In 2008, she demonstrated her continued confidence in EWI’s work by offering a five-year grant that matched all new and increased donations up to $500,000 every year for the following five years. This translated into $5 million for EWI over the period covered by her extraordinary gift. 

Davis was a relentless optimist. Even after she crossed the threshold of 100, she kept envisioning the possibility of a better world. At her birthday gathering in 2012, she said, “I want to use my birthday to once again help young people launch some initiatives that will bring new energy and ideas to the prospects of peace in the world.”

At the celebration, she renewed her commitment to Projects for Peace, which funds one-hundred, $10,000 projects for peace by college students worldwide. “My many years have taught me that there will always be conflict. It’s part of human nature,” she declared. "But love, kindness and support are also part of human nature.”

And no one exhibited those positive traits better than she did.