Despite finding his tremendous success elsewhere, Davis never forgot the state of his birth, to which he returned in the 1970s. He became a great benefactor to North Carolina's environment and its institutions. An unlettered man himself, but always aware of the power of education, he rose to the rank of trustee at UNC-Chapel Hill, a post he held for 16 years, two of them as chairman of the board. During this time he shared his hard-earned wealth in a number of ways, including establishing scholarships and helping the less advantaged earn degrees. It was also during this time, in the 1970s, that he successfully fought to claim $32 million in funds from the state legislature from the sale of the university's utilities. It is from these funds that Davis Library became a reality, as well as renovations to Wilson Library and the Health Sciences Library. His many gifts have provided funds for students, faculty, campus buildings, research and strategic initiatives such as the Davis Oral History Fund supporting scholarly works in the Southern Oral History Program, a component of the
Center for the Study of the American South. Davis said that the reason he worked so hard to provide higher education opportunities to others was that he never had that opportunity. Davis was also a major donor to the
Dean Smith Center, which opened in 1986 and is still the home court of the UNC-Chapel Hill men's basketball team, and a scholarship program for students who agreed to teach in poor counties in northeastern North Carolina. In 1999 during a trustee meeting, then UNC-Chapel Hill student body president Nic Heinke asked his fellow board members to give a donation to
Hurricane Floyd relief efforts. Heinke passed around his baseball cap and came up with $400 in donations from trustees. When the hat got to Davis, he dropped in a check for $100,000. Then at age 79, Davis had to ask a fellow trustee to fill out the check because his eyesight was poor. He asked that the money go to displaced students at hard-hit
East Carolina University in
Greenville, North Carolina. In the spring of 1999, Reyna Walters, student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill, chatted with Davis about her plan to earn money over the summer for a trip to Europe. He said he would make the trip happen, and soon after, a $10,000 check for Walters arrived from Davis. He was also known to leave five-thousand-dollar tips for struggling clerks and waitresses. ==Honors==