His first wife was an active philanthropist and was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur and Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She died in 1963. The Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, the Lady Davis Fellowship, the Lady Davis Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering Center (a 7-storey low-rise building of the Technion in Haifa), the Lady Davis Building (the main building of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem) and the Lady Davis Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel are named in her honour.