James TAYLOR

Family-Placed Death Notice

TAYLOR, James "Ron" JAMES RONALD "RON" TAYLOR James Ronald "Ron" Taylor, award-winning journalist and internationally-known author and lecturer, died Thursday in Hospice Atlanta with metastatic melanoma. He was 65. Born in northwest Georgia to a mill-worker and a homemaker, Taylor worked for 41 years at the Atlanta Journal and Constitution as a feature writer, editor and online producer for ajc.com and AccessAtlanta. Articles he wrote or co-authored exposed cruel conditions at the Atlanta Zoo in 1983, prompting a transformative overhaul there; won a national prize for revealing Georgia's deteriorating mental health system; and broke ground in 1983 by reporting on HIV, which had drawn sparse attention before. "Among all the savvy, talented people in the Journal newsroom, he was our very best writer," said Bob Johnson, longtime Journal city editor. Taylor began as a sports reporter for the weekly newspaper in his home-town of Summerville, Georgia, and wound up with a reputation reaching around the world through teaching and through the journalism textbook he co-authored. In Into the Newsroom , he promoted honest reporting and style, defining it as "that quality buried in us all which manifests itself as a shout of distinction. The person who has found his or her style leaves some personal mark upon the work." Taylor left his personal mark on his state, his hometown, his adopted city and on aspiring journalists across the globe, as well as his friends and family. He especially cherished time with his son, Alex Brooke Taylor, whether camping, going to movies or taking him and his friends to a punk rock concert. "He'd stand in line five hours to take me to see Empire Strikes Back," said the younger Taylor. Born July 29, 1946, in Trion to James and Bertha Bethania Crawford Taylor, the future journalist grew up in nearby Summerville and began writing as a small boy. "I remember his Tom Thumb typewriter and his little desk that he would sit at and write," recalled his cousin, Nancy Zeigler, who lived next door. He wrote plays in grade school and high school, which he also directed. One summer he worked sweeping cotton dust from the floors of a textile mill in Trion, which employed his father, a World War II veteran who had stormed the beaches of Normandy. The job prompted the younger Taylor to declare that mill work wouldn't be the life for him. In school, Taylor played football and by his senior year in high school had begun working for the Summerville News covering high school sports. His mother, who shared a special bond with her son, encouraged the youngster's interest in reading and writing and stressed the importance of education, according to Taylor's sister, Angela T. Mitchell of Summerville. Taylor became the first in his family to attend college when he went to the University of Georgia in 1964. He continued writing a column, Taylor Talks, for his hometown weekly. He also joined the staff of the Red and Black student newspaper at UGA, becoming editor, his senior year, 1967-68. He married his college sweet- heart, Regina Lynn McGaughey, but they parted ways some years later. The marriage produced Taylor's only child, Alex. In college Taylor aspired to a career in sports writing. The assassination in 1968 of Martin Luther King Jr. changed his focus to news, which he considered more meaningful. He joined the staff of the Atlanta Journal that year and quickly established himself as a versatile reporter and skilled story teller. He was soon winning awards for a series on suburban life in north Atlanta, "The Golden Ghetto," and as one of the reporters of the series, "Two Atlantas- -Living in Limbo," an in-depth look at race relations and a follow-up to an earlier series. He reported from Plains, Georgia, election night 1976 when Jimmy Carter was elected president, and from Washington, D.C., that January for Carter's inauguration. In features, spot news and public service categories, Taylor won top awards in Georgia from the Associated Press and United Press International, year after year. In 1980, the National Mental Health Association awarded him and Charles Seabrook its media award. Perhaps the most dramatic reform stemming from his work began when Taylor reported in 1984 that the Atlanta Zoo had sold a sickly, 12-year-old elephant named Twinkles to a traveling circus, where she soon died. Officials had claimed they sent Twinkles to a farm in Alpharetta, but the circus had buried her in a hole in North Carolina, according to Taylor's story. Soon Taylor and then-coworker Susan Faludi were reporting other zoo animals sold to fly-by-night menageries and turning up dead, while rabbits from the children's zoo wound up as rabbit stew for zoo personnel. Taylor and Faludi reported on filthy, inhumane conditions, too Embarrassed city leaders mounted an effort to transform what had been rated one of the nation's worst zoos into Zoo Atlanta, considered one of the best. Taylor "had an innate sense for human interest, honesty, and humor," said his co-author Leonard Ray Teel, former Journal reporter who teaches at Georgia State University. "He had grown up interested in people's stories. As a journalist he listened to not just two sides, but many, and then pieced together the full story, with style." Taylor went on to the newspaper's national desk, where he helped edit and direct a team of reporters covering the South. ``As an editor, he was kind to young reporters and protective of writers," said Keith Graham, also an editor on the national desk. ``Many editors valued good reporting but were less sensitive to the rhythms of good writing. Ron cared about both," said Graham. ``He helped elevate the storytelling abilities of the people around him," said Graham. The journalism textbook Taylor co-authored expanded his influence. It has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Armenian. Overseas English editions reached students from India to Nigeria. In recent years, Taylor devoted vacations to traveling to the Middle East and North Africa where he taught Arab journalists and students eager to learn American standards. He left print journalism around 2003 for AJC.com, which required him to master code for posting stories and photos. ``It was a learning curve most people on the print side weren't willing to tackle," said Hyde Post, former vice president for the Internet at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Known among coworkers and friends for his distinctive laugh, his easy smile and his quick, off-beat humor, Taylor was an avid hiker and camper. ``It was part of who he was," said Post, one of his hiking partners. ``He wasn't the most athletic hiker that ever hit the trail," said Post, but ``he was intrepid." Taylor also loved music, said his son, who lives in Atlanta. When Alex was 13 his dad took him and some friends to see The Clash, whose album, Sandinista! was a favorite of both father and son. After retiring from the Atlanta newspapers in 2009, Taylor wrote for the Atlanta-based web publication, Like the Dew: A Journal of Southern Culture and Politics. One recent piece, "Reflections on Cairo in Calmer Times," was his memoir of the city when he taught there before the revolution. "It remains one of my favorite cities for the very reasons some people don't like it: It is old, a little dirty and full of restless people." In addition to his son and his sister, Taylor leaves a daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Strickler, and grandson, Cassius Seanor Taylor; brother-in-law Dale Mitchell, of Summerville; niece Stephanie Griffin, her husband Bryan, and their three children, Jillian, Lyla and David, all of Huntsville, Alabama. The family invites friends and admirers to gather at Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta on Wednesday, June 6, beginning at 6 p.m., to memorialize him. The family asks that any memorial contributions be made to CURE Childhood Cancer, 1117 Perimeter Center West, Ste. N-402, Atlanta, GA 30338 | 800 443-CURE. Arrangements by SouthCare Cremation and Funeral Society in Marietta (770) 420-5557.