Death
Davis died, aged 82, at his home in Oakland at 2:45 a.m. PST on October 8, 2011. Nine days later, a private service and funeral was held for Davis who was interred at Chapel of the Chimes. In the days following the funeral, The Associated Press obtained information pertaining to Davis' death. The death certificate, issued by Alameda County, disclosed Davis had died from "an abnormal heart rhythm, congestive heart failure and a heart muscle disease". Davis previously underwent heart surgery in 1996. Davis was also afflicted with skin cancer and had undergone throat surgery in the days preceding his death.
There was an overwhelming outpouring of support and grief in the wake of Davis' death. John Madden, who had remained close to Davis since their first meeting in 1966 lamented, “You don’t replace a guy like that. No way. No damn way. You look at the things he’s done that no one ever did before, being a scout, assistant coach, head coach, general manager, commissioner and owner.” The Sunday following his death, the Oakland Raiders adorned their helmets with a sticker which read "Al" in Davis' memory. A league-wide moment of silence was also observed. Despite the widespread remembrance of his accomplishments, Davis' position as a controversial figure lives on as part of his legacy. Rick Reilly was particularly adamant that the questionable personnel decisions he made later in his career and his arrogant, brash personality should not be forgotten amidst sportswriters' praise of him as an innovative owner.
Davis is survived by his wife, Carol, and their only child, Mark, a graduate of California State University, Chico. Mark assumed his father's old title of managing general partner of the Raiders and owns the majority of the team with his mother. Carol suffered a serious heart attack in 1979 and was hospitalized for three weeks but was able to make a complete recovery.
Davis' mother Rose had lived to age 103. She died in 2001, having outlived her husband Lou by 40 years.
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Famous quotes containing the word death:
“It is a strange, strange fate, and now, as I stand face to face with death I feel just as if they were going to kill a boy. For I feel like a boy—and my hands so free from blood and my heart always so compassionate and pitiful that I cannot comprehend how anyone wants to hang me.”
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“Dreams pursue death as winds a flying fire,
Our dreams pursue our dead and do not find.”
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“The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows for the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)