PATRICK LAURENCE TAYLOR

1960 - 2021

TAYLOR, Patrick Laurence Boston-area attorney and prominent bioethicist, passed away on September 3, 2021 in Brookline, MA. He was the beloved father of Nathaniel L. Taylor, who survives him, and widower of the late Deirdre A. Roney. He is survived by seven siblings and by many nieces and nephews, whom he loved very much. Patrick was born on March 25, 1960 in South Bend, Indiana, to Carol Duthie and Jerome Taylor, and grew up primarily in Chicago, IL, Madison, WI, and North Freedom, WI. Later, he earned degrees in biology and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, (Phi Beta Kappa, 1983) and his J.D. at Columbia Law School, where he re-encountered and began a relationship with his lifelong best friend, Deirdre Roney, in 1986. Post-graduation, he worked at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP before following his passions for justice and good government into the public sector. During his time as a public servant, he worked in the NYC Appeals Division before rising in the state political sphere, first as a counsel to New York Governor Mario Cuomo and then as Senior Counsel to the majority in the New York state legislature and Chief of Staff for Education. Following statewide Democratic losses in 1995, he transitioned into healthcare law, where he would spend the rest of his career, first at Albany Medical Center and later at Boston Children's Hospital after relocating with his family to Brookline, MA. During his long and distinguished career in medical law and ethics, he served at different times as General Counsel at Albany Medical; Deputy General Counsel, Staff Scientist, and Director of Ethics Analysis and Applications for the Computational Health Informatics Program at Children's; as an Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School; a fellow at Harvard Law School and, later, at its Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. Professionally, he is best known for his advocacy of life-saving stem cell techniques. He was instrumental in crafting many of the ethical arguments and frameworks that allowed for this research; this work was published in journals such as Nature where it received global acclaim. Later, with this policy battle largely won, he turned his attention to issues of privacy in healthcare, patient protections, and the establishment of security standards for healthcare software. He spent many happy years traveling the world with his wife and son, presenting and speaking on these and related matters in countries such as Germany, Argentina, and Australia. Equally fulfilling for him, however, was the extraordinary amount of pro bono work that he pursued with gusto and dedication throughout his career, including the establishment of Kunzang Palchen Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center in Red Hook, NY; work with Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery in Woodstock, NY and with Doane Stuart School in Albany, NY; and countless personal clients. Many of his clients told him, over the years and with great sincerity, that he had saved their lives. Following his wife's death of breast cancer in 2017, he spent his remaining years enjoying his relationship with his son Nathaniel, advocating for breast cancer patients, and throwing himself into a wide array of charitable causes. He never ceased his pro bono work, his advocacy for others, or his philanthropy. Inspiring all around him, he rose above a deeply troubled upbringing to become a formidable advocate for the powerless and downtrodden. This singular focus informed his life from start to finish: capable of incredible selflessness, he never once refused a request for help, and always kept a special place in his heart for cases that would have seemed hopeless to anyone else. He experienced the very worst that life has to offer and crafted the experience into an unstoppable will to do good. He was deeply loved and will be profoundly missed. He will be buried at Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to either St. Francis House or the Women's Lunch Place. www.bellodeafuneralhome.com