John Taylor

John Arthur Taylor, age 97, died February 12, 2026, in Provo, Utah, of natural causes. He was born October 2, 1928, in Provo. He was the first child of Lynn Dixon Taylor and Celestia Marguerita Johnson Taylor.

John attended school at the BYU elementary, junior, and senior high school. From the age of 13 he was employed by Dixon Taylor Russell Company, first as an upholsterer and then as an advertising commercial artist. From 1948-1950 he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Union of South Africa. During the Korean War, from 1952-1954, he was a cryptographic instructor in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and a cryptographer at SHAPE Headquarters in Paris, France.

John graduated from Brigham Young University in 1955 with a BS in Marketing, and from the Columbia Graduate School of Business in 1956 with an MS in Advertising Management.

John was employed in the Advertising Department of The Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, Ohio between 1956 and his retirement in 1989, after a highly successful career in media management.

For seventeen years, John was a councilor in the presidency and then president of the Cincinnati Ohio Stake of the Church. He served in many other Church leadership capacities throughout his life, including two years as a councilor in the presidency of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, and as a councilor in the presidency of The Temple Square Mission in Salt Lake City. He served on the Oak Hills Stake High Council for ten years, and was a Provo Temple Ordinance Worker for a decade. He was also a Church Service Missionary in the BYU Family History Library for many years.

John was a member of the BYU Marriott School of Management's National Advisor Council (NAC), Development Board of the BYU School of Communications, and Development Board of the BYU H.B. Lee Library. He also served two terms on the BYU Alumni Board of Directors.

At the time of his death, John was a High Priest in the Jamestown Branch in Provo, Utah.

In 1956, John married Catherine Sarah Pearson of Great Neck, New York, in the Salt Lake Temple. John is survived by three children and their wives: John Arthur, Jr. (Natalie), appellate attorney with Horvitz & Levy, Los Angeles; Thomas Henry (Carolyn), retired software engineer; and David Pearson (Anissa), health IT director with Pfizer, Salt Lake City; and eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. John's surviving sister and brother are Janice (Monte DeGraw) and George (Debra) Taylor.

John's lifelong motto was: "I will have a little fun every day," and he did.

Family and friends are invited to attend a viewing at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at the Oak Hills Hillside Chapel, located at 1960 N. 1500 E., Provo, Utah. Funeral services will follow at 11:00 a.m. at the same location. Interment will take place at the Provo City Cemetery.