Joyce Taylor

Joyce Taylor

Resident of Oakland

March 13, 1957 - Oct. 23, 2010

A woman known for her intelligence, warmth, and elegance, Joyce Taylor passed away suddenly last Saturday, leaving a rich life filled with family and friends. Joyce is survived by her brothers, Warren E Taylor of Norman, OK, and Alan S. Taylor of San Francisco, CA, and the love of her life, Lindsey Humphrey of Tracey, CA. She was preceded in death by her parents Emery Taylor, Jr. and Alice Marie Warren Taylor.

A native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, Joyce obtained a Bachelor's degree in Journalism (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Oklahoma (OU).

Joyce was a highly successful and respected businesswoman and community leader. She began her career with Southwestern Bell Telephone as a public relations manager in Oklahoma City. As her career advanced, assignments took her to St. Louis, Washington, D.C. and San Antonio where she had responsibilities, including public policy development, news relations, employee information, corporate advertising, corporate communications and federal relations. Joyce moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1996 to become Executive Director, External Affairs, SBC, helping earn support from community and consumer groups for the merger between SBC ad Pacific Telesis. In 1997, she was promoted to Regional President, Bay Area, and then Senior Vice President, External Affairs-Northern California, AT&T, where she oversaw legislative, governmental and external affairs activities in Northern California.

Joyce worked extensively with Bay Area business and community- based organizations to improve the community in which she lived. She served on the Boards of Directors of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Area Council, Bay Area Economic Forum, First Tee of San Jose, San Francisco School Alliance Foundation, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Tech Museum of Innovation, United Way of the Bay Area, Women's Forum West, the Northwestern Regional Board of Operation Hope, the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Ballet and the Executive Campaign Advisory Board of the United Negro College Fund. Joyce's final year at AT&T (2007) was spent working as a loaned executive to the Oakland Chamber of Commerce collaborating with artists and community leaders on "Remember Them: Champions of Humanity", a monument meant to inspire the public to deepen their personal commitment to humanitarian values and actions in their own lives and communities.

Joyce leaves behind wide network of family, friends and colleagues around the country. She was a very special person, and will be greatly missed. Donations in Joyce's memory may be made to the Remember Them - Champions for Humanity monument fund (www.remember-them.org) or the Emery Taylor Fund (Checks payable to the University of Oklahoma Foundation, 100 Timberdell Road, Norman OK 73019-0685 or www.oufoundation.org.

Memorial Services will be held at the First Covenant Church, 4000 Redwood Road, Oakland on Monday Nov 1, 2010. Interment will be at the Robinson Family Cemetery, Rentiesville, OK, on Friday, Nov 5.