Denis Philip Taillon

Denis Philip Taillon, age 93, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. 

Denis was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 10, 1932. He graduated from Leo Catholic High School in 1949 and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Food Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1954. Drafted into the United States Army, he served from 1954 to 1958 in Texas, New Mexico, and Chicago in the Quartermaster Corps, specializing in food inspection and earning a Master of Arts in Business Administration at University of Chicago in 1960. After his military service and education, Denis married Geraldine O’Connell, of Chicago, and began a career in systems analysis, starting out with Honeywell. Taking assignment in Australia in 1961, Denis worked with the government and the Royal Australian Airforce on the implementation of Honeywell’s mainframe computers. Returning to the United States in 1964, he worked in Boston before returning to Chicagoland in 1968, settling in Barrington, Illinois, and taking positions with Blue Cross and, later, Allstate as a database analyst. Denis and Geraldine divorced in 1970. He married Joyce Anderson in 1980 and settled in Biltmore, North Barrington, Joyce’s longtime home. He retired in 1990 and contributed to the community by serving on the North Barrington Plan Commission in the early 2000s. 

Denis enjoyed food, wine, music, and sports. A devotee of classical music—Richard Wagner’s Ring Des Nibelungen and Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, especially—he was a partisan of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a charter listener of WFMT. He also tapped his feet to folk music, the traditional Irish music of the Clancy Brothers and the Chieftains, as well as the Dixieland jazz of Bix Beiderbecke and Franz Jackson and the guitar jazz of Django Reinhardt. In many ways, though, food figured as Denis’ passion. He mastered the art of cooking and regularly produced winners like Beef Bourguignon, Split Pea with Ham, and Minestrone soup, not to mention a killer BBQ beef brisket. Spirits and good wine and beer accompanied meals with his favorite Sierra Nevada Pale Ale paired with his favorite snack, Cheddar Ruffles potato chips. 

Fencing, hockey, and skiing were Denis’ sports. On the slopes, Denis favored the powder of Alta Ski Area in Utah. On the ice, he played as a goaltender, hanging up the pads to officiate youth and adult hockey across the Northwest suburbs. He followed professional sports as a lifelong fan of the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks. Later in life, he enjoyed traveling with his family, especially to destinations like Dublin and Paris. He took care to document these trips, producing travelogue slideshows to music upon returning home. Reading and fine art remained Denis’ regular pastimes, with such authors as John Le Carre and Graham Greene, and the art of Japanese woodblock print among his favorites. Of course, he read the Chicago Tribune and New York Times every day, particularly enjoying the Sunday editions. 

Anyone who knew Denis appreciated his dry wit and would not be surprised to learn his affinity for Oscar Wilde or the standup comedy pioneered by The Second City in its formative days at The Compass in Hyde Park with such humorists and actors as Sevren Darden, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, and Alan Arkin. Naturally, Denis gravitated to the Monty Python crew and, later, Rowan Atkinson in his role as the Black Adder. The twinkle in his eye as he told a joke indulged in a shameless pun revealed these influences.

Denis is survived by his beloved wife of 45 years, Joyce Taillon (nee Anderson); children Paul and Armand Taillon; and grandchildren Cealagh, Luc, Audrey, and Gigi Taillon He is preceded in death by his parents Denis and Marion Taillon; and sister Barbara Taillon Services will be held at a later date.

 In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Evans Scholars Foundation