Malik Davis

1970 - 2023 exactly what I was going to do.”

From his start as a student activist and member of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panthers, Garry Owens was a driven advocate for civil rights and social justice. Pictured right, he sits with his wife, community activist Cindy Domingo.

LONG AFTER HE GRADUATED, Malik Nkrumah Davis, ’94, was a familiar figure across campus.

He worked in fundraising for the College of Arts & Sciences and before that served on the staff of the UW Alumni Association as director of constituent relations. In those roles and as a UW alum interested in the well-being and success of the students who came after him, he was often on campus for celebrations and special events. He served as a chapter adviser for the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and for a time as an adviser for Viewpoint magazine.

Born and raised in Seattle, Davis graduated from Garfield High School and enrolled at the UW to earn a degree in political science. He went on to complete a master’s degree in public administration at the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment in New York.

Returning to Seattle, he worked in city government and then as a client relationship specialist in the construction industry before returning to the UW as a member of the staff. In 2019, he became associate director of development for Mary’s Place, a nonprofit for women and children experiencing homelessness. At the time of his death, he was a Legislative Aide for Seattle Councilmember Alex Pedersen.

In March, the mayor and the Seattle City Council proclaimed Dec. 2 to be Malik Davis Day stating that “Malik Davis led with compassion and wisdom to fight racism, to increase public safety, to build community and to champion the city of Seattle.” Davis, who died of a heart attack on Feb. 21 at age 52, is survived by his wife, Colleen, and his daughters, Waverly and Quincy.

That encounter led to Owens’ enrolling at the UW to pursue a degree in anthropology. He ran into a few friends from his childhood in the Central District and South End of Seattle. With them and the few other Black students on campus, he found a community and discovered an outlet for his energy and intellect in activism.

Owens joined a group of students who caravanned down to the Bay Area in 1968. There they met the founders of the Black Panthers and attended a conference for Black students interested in organizing. Back home at the UW, they formed the Black Student Union and turned their efforts toward pushing the University to recruit and retain more non-white students.

He was among the students whose demonstrations prompted the administration to create the Office of Minority Affairs, start programs to recruit students of color from around the state and expand the curriculum to include Black studies.

Also, that year, Owens joined the newly formed Seattle chapter of the Black Panthers. In addition to leading and attending political protests, the Panthers established a free medical clinic and a free breakfast program for children, something for which Owens was especially proud.

Owens briefly left Washington to complete his anthropology degree in 1972 at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. He returned to Seattle to rejoin a community of activists, many of them UW alumni volunteering or in jobs where they worked on fair housing, school integration, employment and health. He directed minority outreach for the Central Area Motivation Program and later served as a manager in the city of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods on projects designed to decrease violence and empower neighborhoods.

Owens is survived by his wife, Cindy Domingo, and children Jamil, Malik and Ann Marie, as well as two grandchildren. He died on Sept. 30 at age 77.