PASSINGS

Oscar H. Davis; Longtime Federal Judge

Oscar H. Davis, 74, a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who was named to the U.S. Court of Claims in 1962 and was chief judge during the 1970s. Davis was named to the appeals bench six years ago after a federal court reorganization that abolished the Court of Claims and set up a new federal circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. A 1934 graduate of Harvard University, Davis earned his law degree at Columbia University. He joined the Justice Department’s claims division in 1939. Davis joined the solicitor general’s office in 1949 and was named first assistant to the solicitor general in 1954. He held that post until he became an associate judge on the Court of Claims. Davis argued more than 50 cases before the U.S. In Washington on Sunday of cancer.