Paul Davis’ best friends, Abbey and Smokey, share the Craftsman bungalow in North Park he bought in 1996, 10 years after he graduated from the University of San Diego. In fact, escrow closed May 24, 10 years to the date after his graduation. Added to that irony, the home’s seller had been his biomedical ethics professor at USD.

Davis, 37, grew up in Escondido and was student body president at Orange Glen High School. That leadership role continued at USD where he was student body vice president.

He was working for the San Diego County Credit Union on a project at San Dieguito High School when he became friends with a woman whose dog had puppies — chocolate labs. He took two, “the largest and the runt,” he says. Six years later, “they are still puppies,” who share their own room, thereby protecting the rest of the house, which Davis is keeping historically authentic.

Davis now works as marketing and sales director for ITGtech, an Internet-based training and software development company. Co-workers who nominated him for 40 Under Forty, call him a “warm and compassionate human being,” who “lives modestly and yet is generous beyond comprehension. Our entire staff is proud to work with him.”

Never married and without children, Davis dedicates many hours to the welfare of young people. For two years he has been board president of Home Start, a child abuse prevention agency. He has served leadership roles with the Volunteer Center, Special Delivery and United Way. In 1996 he received a Hands-on San Diego Distinguished Leader award and in 1997 a CHAD/United Way Community Service Award.

He credits his late mother with instilling in him a desire to serve his community. “We’re here on earth to make life better for other people,” says the third of four siblings, all of whom are active. “She always said, ‘Live your life in truth.’”

— Sandy Pasqua