Maceo N. Davis, innovative business owner and global trade and finance expert, has died at 76

Maceo N. Davis, 76, of Chadds Ford, former manager of international business development for the Philadelphia Commerce Department and founder and former president of Quoin Capital LLC, died Saturday, Oct. 5, of cardiac arrest at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Mr. Davis was an expert in public finance and global commercial collaboration, and he brokered international deals for local businesses with counterparts around the world. Working with Mayor Wilson Goode, U.S. Rep. William H. Gray III, and other officials and business leaders in the 1980s, he tapped Philadelphia-area workers into emerging markets in Africa, the Middle East, China, and Europe.

He especially championed small-business growth and oversaw the success of Philadelphia’s Sister Cities global economic development program. That international initiative connected Philadelphians with foreign executives and entrepreneurs in politically stable and self-sufficient “sister cities.” To open the engagements, he traveled to Israel, Poland, Italy, South Korea, China, Cameroon, and elsewhere.

“The concept is to build social and cultural ties,” Mr. Davis told The Inquirer in 1987. “We think that’s a good vehicle for developing commercial relationships.”

In 1985, he told the Daily News that a two-week mission to Cameroon, Senegal, Egypt, and the Ivory Coast resulted in $10.9 million worth of signed contracts for Philadelphia area businesses. “Normally these missions pass by Philadelphia and go to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston,” he said.

In March 1986, Mr. Davis, Gray, and other Philadelphia leaders visited Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to discuss oil and gas ventures. In August 1986, he announced the addition of Douala, Cameroon, to the Sister Cities roster and told the Daily News: “We think we’ve identified a diamond in the rough.”

Mr. Davis left city government in the 1990s, established several of his own import-export firms, and founded Quoin Capital in Philadelphia in 2005. He specialized in public finance, equity and fixed income trading, and market commentary for financial institutions and public entities. He sold the company and retired in 2022.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in math from Lincoln University in 1970 and later served on the school’s board of trustees. He organized other members of the Class of 1970 to form an undergraduate research fund for exceptional students, mentors, and study centers. It grew to $125,000 in 2024.

He also earned a master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1973. Early in his career, he worked at Citibank, IBM, and other firms in Philadelphia and New York.

Mr. Davis embraced Quakerism at Kennett Friends Meeting and volunteered as a financial consultant for the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. He contributed to Associated Black Charities Inc. and was constantly preparing, it seemed, for some sort of professional licensing exam.

“He was always studying,” said his sister Carolyn. “Even on vacations.”

Maceo Nathaniel Davis was born Sept. 10, 1948, in Manning, S.C. He moved with his family to Philadelphia when he was 11 and graduated from John Bartram High School in 1966.

He delivered newspapers in Southwest Philadelphia and played baseball in Little League and on varsity teams at Bartram and Lincoln. He was a math whiz, worked as a disc jockey at Lincoln, and joined the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

He married Rita Anderson, and they had daughter Paige and son Maceo. After a divorce, he married Donna Howard. They divorced later. His son died in 2015.

Mr. Davis was an avid squash player, and he won tournament championships and played on courts around the world. His family called the Racquet Club of Philadelphia his home away from home. He also played softball in the 1980s on a Commerce Department team.

He was a lifelong Yankees baseball fan but cheered for the Phillies when the Yankees missed the playoffs. He went to the Penn Relays and enjoyed the diverse music stylings of Miles Davis, Bob Marley, and Stevie Wonder.

He valued long-term relationships and kept in touch with lifelong friends, colleagues, and frat brothers on regular Zoom calls. “He would go out of his way to help you if you were in need,” his sister said. “He was very generous.”

In addition to his daughter and sister, Mr. Davis is survived by two granddaughters, his former wives, and other relatives. A sister died earlier.

Services are to be held from 10 a.m. to noon Friday, Oct. 25, at Kennett Friends Meeting, 125 W. Sickle St., Kennett Square, Pa. 19348.

Donations in his name may be made to the Lincoln University Langston Hughes Undergraduate Research Fund, endowed by the Class of 1970, 1570 Baltimore Pike, Lincoln University, Pa. 19352.