Peter Davis (sociologist)

Peter Davis
Man with white hair and beard wearing a suit
Peter Davis in Auckland in 2010
Spouse of the Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office
10 December 1999 – 19 November 2008
Preceded by Burton Shipley
Succeeded by Bronagh Key
Personal details
Born Peter Byard Davis
(1947-04-25) 25 April 1947
Milford on Sea, Hampshire, England
Nationality New Zealander
Political party Labour Party
Spouse(s)
Helen Clark (m. 1981)
Alma mater University of Auckland
Profession Sociologist
Website University website

Peter Byard Davis (born 25 April 1947) is a New Zealand sociologist, professor, and the husband of former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Early life

Davis was born in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, England, on 25 April 1947,[1] and spent his childhood in Tanzania, where his father worked for a mining company.[2] His father was born in China and his mother in India, but a great-great-grandfather had grown up in New Zealand.[3] Davis gained a master's degree in sociology and statistics at the London School of Economics.[3] He moved to New Zealand in 1970 to work at the University of Canterbury[3] and completed a PhD at the University of Auckland.[2] He became a naturalised New Zealander in 1972.[1]

In 1980 he stood unsuccessfully for the Auckland City Council on a Labour Party ticket.[4]

Personal life

He met Clark—then a political-science lecturer at Auckland—in 1977[3] and they married shortly after she first won election to Parliament in the 1981 general election.

Career

Davis specialises in medical sociology, and he currently works as the Director of the COMPASS (Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences) Research Centre and has cross-appointments in the Department of Statistics and in the School of Population Health, all at the University of Auckland.[5] Previously he served as Professor of Public Health at the University of Otago's Christchurch School of Medicine.

He has previously served on the Auckland Area Health Board, and was a representative in 1989 when his wife (Health Minister at the time) suspended that body. Davis has achieved international recognition in his field, having worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization.[6]

Notes

  1. 1 2 "New Zealand, naturalisations, 1843–1981". Ancestry.com Operations. 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2017. (Subscription required (help)).
  2. 1 2 Van Beynen, Martin (2006). "Davis's trouble and strife". The Press (23 September 2006): 7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bain, Helen (1998). "The man called Mr Clark". The Dominion (21 December 1998): 8.
  4. ↑ "Declaration of Result of Election". The New Zealand Herald. 29 October 1980. p. 9.
  5. ↑ "Professor Peter Davis". www.arts.auckland.ac.nz. The University of Auckland. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "Davis, Peter". us.sagepub.com. SAGE Publications Inc. Retrieved 2018-02-03.

References

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