Former director of ATF bureau
Rex D. Davis, 83, a former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who presided over ATF’s transition into an independent bureau, died Jan. 7 at a hospital in Bethesda, Md., of complications from a colon infection, the Washington Post reported.
Davis joined what is now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 1949.
He became a “revenuer” -- staking out moonshiners in the woods at night, raiding stills and smashing barrels of moonshine with an ax.
He became director of the ATF in 1970. During his tenure, ATF was upgraded from a division of the Internal Revenue Service to an independent bureau within the Treasury Department.
A native of Skiatook, Okla., Davis joined the U.S. Army Air Forces after Pearl Harbor. He was a bombardier in the 401st Bombardment Group and flew 33 missions in 1944 and 1945.
After the war, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Oklahoma and also earned a law degree there.
He retired from government service in 1978 and served as president of the National Assn. of Beverage Importers, president and chief executive of New Europe Wines and executive director of the President’s Forum of the Beverage Alcohol Industry.
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