Morris Davis was born in London, the penultimate of ten children, and migrated to Australia with his parents in 1911. He completed his secondary schooling at Melbourne High School and studied medicine at the University of Melbourne. He graduated with honours and undertook specialist training in internal medicine. While doing so he was awarded the Armytage Prize for medical research and the Beaney Scholarship in pathology (twice). He became a member of the College in 1939 and was a foundation member of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Morris Davis' life-long association with the Alfred Hospital began with his appointment as a resident medical officer in 1931. During the 1930s he was a clinical assistant prior to his appointment in 1939 as acting physician to outpatients. All his life he retained a deep interest in pathology and worked with Dr Rupert Willis. He was acting pathologist for fifteen months during 1933-34. In 1945 he was appointed as a physician to inpatients, a post in which he served until 1961 when he was appointed honorary consultant physicians to the hospital.

As a teacher he was unsurpassed. He always emphasised the importance of knowing about the whole patient; indeed his approach, in today's terms, was "holistic". He excelled at the bedside where many of us learned the art of history-taking and physical examination from 'Mossie' Davis as he was affectionately known by his students and residents. He was an innovative physician: he is reputed to have been one of the first to use penicillin which he imported in the wing of an aeroplane in order to keep it cool. He persuaded one of his friends, an engineer, to build a machine for kidney dialysis. His speculative imagination about the causes of disease was often not appreciated by his colleagues. For instance on several occasions I can recall him expressing the opinion about patients with what were regarded as exotic or bizarre diseases as being 'allergic' to their own tissues. This proposal was regarded at that time (1940s to 1950s) as an extraordinary one and one that was beyond the bounds of reality. One of the patients who fell into this class was a young girl who was ultimately shown to have systemic lupus at a time long before the concept of autoimmune disease was abroad.

He used visual aids with evangelical fervour; with Newman Rosenthal he was instrumental in establishing the visual aids department at the University of Melbourne. He also developed auditory aids and introduced the teaching cardioscope, a machine which enabled several students to listen to heart sounds either from a patient or tape while the instructor could emphasise the salient points.

Morris Davis was also a distinguished artist and experimented in many media: oils, watercolour, engraving and ceramics. In 1975 he created a magnificent series of stained glass windows for the East Melbourne Synagogue. These windows symbolically display Jacob's blessings on each of his twelve sons. He was proud of his Jewish heritage and at one time was a governor of the Hebrew University and president of the Australian Friends of the Hebrew University. In 1932 he married Sophie Ashkenazy they had two sons, Alan and Leigh.