Born on 14 July 1916 at Leytontone, into a Methodist family, he was educated at The Leys School, Cambridge and in 1937 joined the family firm of shipbrokers, founded by his father in 1922. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1945 for his service in the Burma Campaign. Under his chairmanship the firm of Davies and Newman branched into air broking and as Dan-Air had become by the 1970s the largest British independent airline, taken over in 1992 by British Airways. His CBE was awarded for his services to the air travel industry. He died on 19 October 2012 and has been described as 'a kind and generous man who did much good without parading his largesse'.