KEY POINTS:
Former Cook Islands prime minister Sir Thomas Davis has died in Rarotonga, aged 90.
Sir Thomas was taken to hospital three days ago and died on Monday, Cook Islands news services reported. The cause of death was not yet known.
Sir Thomas was prime minister between 1978 and 1987. He was knighted in 1981.
A graduate of Otago University in 1945, he was the first Cook Islander to qualify as a doctor in New Zealand. He returned to the Cook Islands as Medical Officer and set about tackling his country's health problems.
In 1952 he went to Harvard University in the US and became a research physiologist, working at one stage for Nasa on the biological aspects of the space programme.
He returned to the newly independent Cook Islands and helped found the Democratic Party in 1971, becoming leader of the Opposition a year later.
During his nine-year tenure as prime minister, he was credited with increasing employment and the average income of Cook Islanders, as well as social and cultural advances.
After retiring from politics, he pursued many other interests and served in Wellington as his country's High Commissioner.
Following that term in 2005, he was honoured by Otago University with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Vice-chancellor Professor David Skegg said he was delighted to able to recognise formally Sir Thomas' "lifetime of outstanding achievements of medicine, science and politics.
"The university is very proud to have Sir Thomas among our ranks of distinguished alumni," Professor Skegg said at the time.
Sir Thomas was a keen sportsman, enjoying surfing, boxing and gun-shooting. He loved sports cars and once served a term as president of the Kentucky chapter of the Sports Car Club of America.
- NZPA
