Ralph Davis Day (88), long time resident of Madison, died the morning of July 4, 2020 at St. Dominic’s Hospital after a brief illness. Ralph was born on New Year’s Day in Texarkana, Arkansas in 1932. He spent the first six years of his life living with his parents in London, England. His father, Harold Ralph Day of Massachusetts was Passenger Traffic Manager for U.S. Steamship Lines. In 1938, Ralph’s father succumbed to a 20 year old shrapnel wound to his chest in World War I. Ralph and his mother, Norma Davis Day of Texarkana, a stage actress and radio personality, moved back to Texarkana. The London block where they had lived was flattened by bombs as World War II began. After Ralph finished high school he moved to New Orleans and studied foreign trade for two years. He then worked for Hibernia National Bank as a teller and in the foreign department. After two years he pursued a different career as a private investigator for a local security firm for several years. This would lead him to start his own business. In 1962 Ralph moved to Jackson, Mississippi and founded Day Detectives, Inc. and served as its President for 40 years. The firm became the largest full service security agency in the state and provided security guards, a large central alarm service and a private investigation department. Ralph employed as many as 900 people without discrimination. He ultimately sold the alarm division to Entergy in 1997 and the rest of the business in 2003 to Securitas. Ralph was active in numerous national and professional trade organizations in the security industry and served in leadership roles in many of them. Ralph was an active participant in Crime Stoppers. After the sale of his company he continued to work as a consultant and expert witness in the field of security for legal matters. He fully retired in 2012. Ralph enjoyed playing golf at Colonial and Annandale Golf Clubs and was a long time member of the Rotary Club. He also volunteered as a reader for the Radio Reading Service of Mississippi Public Broadcasting and donated to MPB as well as to WJSU. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Georgia Lovelace Day of Vardaman, MS, who was instrumental in the success of Day Detectives. He is also survived by his son Harry Marshall Day of Madison, and his grandchildren Summer Lovelace Day and Ethan Clark Day. Memorials may be made to The Salvation Army, the Mississippi Food Network and the Foundation for Public Broadcasting.Graveside services will be held at Natchez Trace Memorial Park Cemetery on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 2:00 pm.