Albie Muldavin Davis, a pioneering figure in community mediation, conflict resolution and gender equity, died peacefully on April 26 at age 88. Her work transformed how conflict is approached-centering on dignity, dialogue and community empowerment.
Mediate.com had the special opportunity to both sponsor and record the historically significant Presentation of An Evening with Mary Parker Follett by Albie Davis (see the video).
Mediate.com, with Robert D. Benjamin as host, also had the opportunity to interview Albie at length as part of Mediate.com’s Views from the Eye of the Storm video series including over 100 mediation pioneers. Be sure to also watch the Complete Interview with Albie Davis – Views from the Eye of the Storm, as well as her additional posted videos below.
Video: Presentation of An Evening with Mary Parker Follett by Albie Davis
Video: Complete Interview with Albie Davis – Views from the Eye of the Storm
This is the complete interview by Robert Benjamin with Albie Davis, a pioneering community mediation leader, filmed as part of Mediate.com’s “The Mediators: Views from the Eye of the Storm” Series.
See the entire “Views from the Eye of the Storm” series here.
Albie Davis: Central Ideas of Mediation – Video
Albie Davis: Example of Parties Resolving Own Dispute – Video
Albie Davis: Mediating with Bullies – Video
Albie Davis: When a Mediation Process is Over – Video
Albie Davis: Training Mediators to Understand Emotions – Video
Albie Davis: Feeling Honored When Parties Were Entrusting – Video
Albie Davis: Initial Intrigue With Mediation – Video
Albie Davis: Mediation About Request – Video
Albie Davis: Benefits to Muscle Mediation – Video
2015’s the 100th Anniversary of the Women at the Hague: Lessons for Today
Born in New York City and raised in California, Davis’s commitment to justice emerged early. As a college student, she co-founded the Berkeley School Food Co-Op and, in 1965, helped feed 2,000 United Farm Workers marching from the Central Valley to Sacramento. She later chaired the Sacramento County Democratic Committee, mobilizing support for Governor Pat Brown.
Davis met her husband, David W. Davis, at UC Berkeley. The couple raised four children and lived in Sacramento, Washington D.C., and Boston’s South End before divorcing in 1972.
As a single mother, Davis launched a transformative career. In the 1970s, she created Political Discovery, a program introducing Boston-area high school students to government. She earned a master’s in education from Lesley College and went on to found the Cambridge Dispute Settlement Center-the East Coast’s first citizen-run mediation center. Davis promoted mediation as a path not just to resolve disputes, but to heal and empower.
A lifelong feminist, she joined a successful legal effort to open Boston Latin School to girls on equal terms. As Coordinator of the Gender Equality Committee in the Massachusetts District Courts, she led initiatives to eliminate gender bias and handled investigations of harassment with compassion and integrity.
Inspired by 20th Century visionary, Mary Parker Follett, Davis was a leading interpreter of Follett’s work on democratic conflict resolution and management. Davis published more than 60 articles and trained mediators, judges and educators across the U.S., South Africa, Australia and Europe. Her influence was global, her message unwavering: conflict, when handled ethically, could unify rather than divide.
Her awards include the SPIDR New England Pioneer Award and the Academy of Family Mediators Distinguished Service Award.
Davis retired in 1999 to Maine with her partner, the late John N. Chandler, and became an artist before developing Alzheimer’s.
She is survived by her children, Michelle, Matt, Ben and Carol; her grandchildren Danielle, Chris, Haley, Davis, Dashiell and Darwin; and countless colleagues and friends.
A celebration of her life will be held Saturday, September 13, at 11:00 am at First Church in Jamaica Plain, Unitarian Universalist. Donations in her honor may be made to the Cambridge Dispute Settlement Center or local mediation programs.
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