F. Jay Taylor
Encyclopedia
Foster Jay Taylor, known as F. Jay Taylor (August 9, 1923 – May 15, 2011), was a historian
who served from 1962 to 1987 as the president of Louisiana Tech University
in Ruston
in Lincoln Parish
in north Louisiana
. Taylor wrote books on the American
and the Spanish Civil Wars
.
in Bienville Parish
to Lawrence Foster Taylor (1892-1977) and the former Marcia Aline Jay (1898-1993). He graduated from Gibsland High School there in 1940. He then attended Louisiana Tech as a studemt for four semesters from 1940-1942. In May 1942, he enlisted in the United States Navy
. He completed aviation training in 1943 and was commissioned as an ensign
. As a Navy pilot, he logged two thousand hours of flight time during World War II
. He was sent to the Pacific theatre
for two tours of duty and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. He was honorably discharged from military service in 1946.
Taylor received his Bachelor of Arts
degree in social science in 1948 from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1949, he obtained a Master of Arts
from Claremont Graduate University
, also in California
. He was later named to the Claremont Alumni Hall of Fame. He procured his Ph.D.
in history and government in 1952 from Tulane University
in New Orleans
.
, a library and administrative office complex, the Thomas Assembly Center, the Lambright Intramural Sports Complex
, the Aillet Stadium
, and the J.C. Love Field.
He was a visible president who spoke before educational and civic groups across the state. Prior to 1980, his vice president was Virgil Orr
, a former chemical engineering
professor and dean, who served from 1988-1992 as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
from Lincoln and Union
parishes.
In 1968, Taylor hired Wiley W. Hilburn
from Shreveport Times to revamp the Louisiana Tech Journalism Department and make the college newspaper
, The Tech Talk, more indicative of student viewpoints. Taylor told Hilburn to "liberate" the college newspaper, which had previously been a non-controversial journal of mostly honor rolls and academic listings and failed to address student issues, such as the Vietnam War
, the civil rights movement
, and the sexual revolution
. Hilburn went on to head the journalism department for thirty-one years and to continue to write editorials, columns, and books.
In 1974, Taylor hired Sonja Hogg
, then a 28-year-old physical education
instructor at Ruston High School
, to develop what turned into a nationally successfully women's basketball
team. The program began with a $5,000 appropriation, reached the Final Four
in 1979, and won the national championship in 1981. Hogg was succeeded as coach of the Lady Techsters
by Leon Barmore
, whom she had hired from Ruston High School.
Since 1979, Tech has given an annual award in Taylor's name to a successful faculty member engaged in undergraduate teaching duties. There is also an F. Jay Taylor Eminent Scholar Chair of Journalism and an F. Jay Taylor Sports Forum.
Taylor's tenure at Louisiana Tech corresponded in part with that of George T. Walker
, a former Northwestern State University
dean and the president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe
from 1958 to 1976. Under Walker's tenure ULM expanded fourfold in enrollment.
Meanwhile, Arnold R. Kilpatrick
from 1966 to 1978 was the president of NSU, a Louisiana Tech sports rival. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones
was president of historically black Grambling State University
in Grambling
, some five miles from the Tech campus during this same period.
Prior to his service at Louisiana Tech, Taylor was an associate professor of history, dean of men (1952-1956), and dean of the Baptist
-affiliated Louisiana College
in Pineville
in Rapides Parish
.
shorthand
by Patrick, a private in the Confederate
Army. A clerk in the commissary and quartermaster departments of the Fourth Louisiana Infantry, Patrick began his diary in April 1861 and wrote until the last days of the conflict. Though the diary was intended only for Patrick's reflections, Taylor was offered the manuscript by Patrick’s niece. Taylor soon determined Patrick to have been a keen observer of events, both military and off-duty. Patrick was present at the 1862 Battle of Shiloh
, named for a community church in southwestern Tennessee
. He was at the sieges in 1863 of Vicksburg
, Mississippi
, and Port Hudson
, north of Baton Rouge
, Louisiana. He participated in the retreat from the Battle of Atlanta
in Georgia
There, Patrick's regiment experienced one of the highest records for casualties in the entire Confederate Army. Patrick was particularly knowledgeable about logistics, supply, and the evaluation of the competence of his superior officers. Patrick’s integrity and writing skill give his diary realism. Though anecdotal, the work is considered a revealing portrait of a soldier in the lower echelons of the Confederate military. Taylor said that Patrick was "very loyal to the South, but he never really understood his role as a Confederate soldier." In 2007, Taylor donated his Civil War artifacts, including the Robert Patrick materials, to the Tech Department of Special Collections, Manuscripts and Archives, a move that Taylor described as "saying goodbye to an old friend."
Taylor's other work is The United States and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, with the introduction by the diplomatic historian Claude G. Bowers.
Taylor also read the initial manuscript for Professor John D. Winters
' The Civil War in Louisiana (1963).
, he was chairman of the Labor-Management Commission of Inquiry, National Academy of Arbitrators, labor panels of the American Arbitration Association, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
He was a member of the Ruston Rotary International
and served on the boards of the Ruston Chamber of Commerce
and Ruston Civic Club.
In 1971, the University of California Alumni Association cited Taylor for "outstanding achievement" and honored him at the school's homecoming. In 1985, he was similarly recognized by his alma mater
Tulane as an outstanding alumnus of the graduate school.
In 1996, Taylor donated $900 to the unsuccessful campaign for the United States House of Representatives
waged by now State Senator
Francis C. Thompson
, a Democrat
from Delhi
, who lost to the Republican
John Cooksey
of Monroe
.
Taylor was a board member of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc., a company previously headed by the Louisiana Tech alumnus Loy F. Weaver
, a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
from Homer
in Claiborne Parish
.
Prior to the building of the current president's home near the Tech stadium, Taylor resided in a plantation-style house in what is now the Ropp Center, which is named for R. L. Ropp, Taylor's predecessor as president, who served from 1949-1962.
and a retired Delta Airlines pilot. In 2007, he was a flight and ground instructor with Sporty's Academy at the Clermont County
Airport in Batavia
, Ohio
. He and his wife, the former Bernardine Hartley, reside in Batavia, near Cincinnati
. They have two children, Andrew Taylor of Gainesville
, Florida
, and Jennifer Taylor Williams of West Palm Beach
, Florida. At some point prior to 1982, the marriage to Evelyn ended. Thereafter by 1988 or earlier, Taylor had wed the former Linda Lou Kavanaugh.
Claybrook Cottingham
, R. L. Ropp's predecessor as the Louisiana Tech president, also had previous ties to Louisiana College, where he was the second president of the institution, having served from 1910–1941, before he came to Louisiana Tech. Taylor was a Louisiana Tech student during Cottingham's first year as president there. Cottingham's tenure at Louisiana College hence preceded Taylor's academic career.
In a 2003 interview with the Monroe News Star
, Taylor described his goal as "helping to bring Louisiana Tech onto the national and international scene."
Taylor was succeeded as the Tech president by his vice-president, Daniel Reneau. On Taylor's death in Ruston at the age of eighty-seven, Reneau described his predecessor as "a great leader and a great president. I was privileged to serve seven years under him as vice president. A senior statesman and point guard in the Tech family has fallen, and we will miss him greatly."
Taylor's services were held on May 18, 2011 at the First Baptist Church in downtown Ruston. Interment followed at Greenwood Cemetery.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
who served from 1962 to 1987 as the president of Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
in Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
in Lincoln Parish
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Lincoln Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Ruston. In 2004, its population was estimated to be 42,382...
in north Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Taylor wrote books on the American
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and the Spanish Civil Wars
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Early years
Taylor was born in GibslandGibsland, Louisiana
Gibsland is a town in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. Conveniently near Interstate 20 and less than an hour from both Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana, Gibsland offers small town living with access to urban amenities...
in Bienville Parish
Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....
to Lawrence Foster Taylor (1892-1977) and the former Marcia Aline Jay (1898-1993). He graduated from Gibsland High School there in 1940. He then attended Louisiana Tech as a studemt for four semesters from 1940-1942. In May 1942, he enlisted in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. He completed aviation training in 1943 and was commissioned as an ensign
Ensign
An ensign is a national flag when used at sea, in vexillology, or a distinguishing token, emblem, or badge, such as a symbol of office in heraldry...
. As a Navy pilot, he logged two thousand hours of flight time during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He was sent to the Pacific theatre
Pacific Theatre
Pacific Theater or Pacific Theatre may refer to*Pacific Ocean Theater, a theater of operations during the Spanish-American War*Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I* Pacific War**Pacific Ocean theater of World War II...
for two tours of duty and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. He was honorably discharged from military service in 1946.
Taylor received his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in social science in 1948 from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1949, he obtained a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
, also in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He was later named to the Claremont Alumni Hall of Fame. He procured his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in history and government in 1952 from Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
Louisiana Tech presidency
Taylor was thirty-nine when he was named as the Louisiana Tech president. He presided over the transformation and expanded enrollment of the institution, founded in 1894 and known prior to 1970 as "Louisiana Polytechnic Institute". Many modern buildings were constructed under his watch, some of which, such as Neilson Hall men's dormitory, have since been discarded. Under his watch came the Wyly TowerSam Wyly
Samuel "Sam" Wyly is an American entrepreneur and businessman, philanthropist, and major contributor to conservative campaigns and candidates. In 2006, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $1.1 billion...
, a library and administrative office complex, the Thomas Assembly Center, the Lambright Intramural Sports Complex
Maxie Lambright
-References:...
, the Aillet Stadium
Joe Aillet
Joe Aillet was the head football coach at Louisiana Tech University from 1940 to 1966. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. During his 26-year tenure, he amassed a career record of 151 wins, 86 losses, and 8 ties. Additionally, under Aillet, the Bulldogs won nine...
, and the J.C. Love Field.
He was a visible president who spoke before educational and civic groups across the state. Prior to 1980, his vice president was Virgil Orr
Virgil Orr
Virgil L. Orr is a retired engineering professor and administrator at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 12 from 1988-1992.-Background:Orr graduated in 1940 from Glenmora High School in Glenmora...
, a former chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
professor and dean, who served from 1988-1992 as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
from Lincoln and Union
Union Parish, Louisiana
Union Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Farmerville....
parishes.
In 1968, Taylor hired Wiley W. Hilburn
Wiley W. Hilburn
Wiley Wilson Hilburn, Jr. , is a prominent journalist in Ruston, Louisiana, whose communications career began in the late 1950s when he was a student at Louisiana Tech University. In 1968, at the age of thirty, Hilburn returned to his alma mater to chair the Journalism Department and serve as...
from Shreveport Times to revamp the Louisiana Tech Journalism Department and make the college newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, The Tech Talk, more indicative of student viewpoints. Taylor told Hilburn to "liberate" the college newspaper, which had previously been a non-controversial journal of mostly honor rolls and academic listings and failed to address student issues, such as the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
, and the sexual revolution
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
. Hilburn went on to head the journalism department for thirty-one years and to continue to write editorials, columns, and books.
In 1974, Taylor hired Sonja Hogg
Sonja Hogg
Sonja Hogg is the former head woman's basketball coach at Louisiana Tech University and at Baylor University.Hogg was a physical education teacher at Ruston High School when she interviewed at Louisiana Tech for a position in its P.E. department. School president Dr. F. Jay Taylor remarked that...
, then a 28-year-old physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
instructor at Ruston High School
Ruston High School
Ruston High School is a 4 year public high school located in the Lincoln Parish School District of Ruston, Louisiana, United States. The school has an enrollment of approximately 1200 students with 85 faculty members; the mascot is the bearcat. The school colors are red and white. Black students...
, to develop what turned into a nationally successfully women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team. The program began with a $5,000 appropriation, reached the Final Four
Final four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
in 1979, and won the national championship in 1981. Hogg was succeeded as coach of the Lady Techsters
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball
The Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball team represents Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. The team currently competes in the NCAA Division I as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. The current head coach of the Lady Techsters is Teresa Weatherspoon...
by Leon Barmore
Leon Barmore
Leon Barmore is a college women's basketball coach. He coached at Louisiana Tech University from 1982 to 2002, serving the first three years as co-head coach with Sonja Hogg, who had begun the program in 1974 at the invitation of university president F. Jay Taylor...
, whom she had hired from Ruston High School.
Since 1979, Tech has given an annual award in Taylor's name to a successful faculty member engaged in undergraduate teaching duties. There is also an F. Jay Taylor Eminent Scholar Chair of Journalism and an F. Jay Taylor Sports Forum.
Taylor's tenure at Louisiana Tech corresponded in part with that of George T. Walker
George T. Walker
George Thomas Walker, Sr. , was from 1958 to 1976 the president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe, known first as Northeast Louisiana State College and then as Northeast Louisiana State University, located in Monroe in northeastern Louisiana.-Background:Walker was born in the Wyatt Community...
, a former Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
dean and the president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe
University of Louisiana at Monroe
The University of Louisiana at Monroe is a coeducational public university in Monroe, Louisiana and part of the University of Louisiana System.-History:...
from 1958 to 1976. Under Walker's tenure ULM expanded fourfold in enrollment.
Meanwhile, Arnold R. Kilpatrick
Arnold R. Kilpatrick
Arnold Roy Kilpatrick was a Louisiana educator and businessman who was the president of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches from 1966-1978.-Early years, education, military:...
from 1966 to 1978 was the president of NSU, a Louisiana Tech sports rival. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones
Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones
Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, Sr. , also known as Ralph W. E. Jones or Prez Jones, was from 1936 until his retirement in 1977 the second president of historically black Grambling State University in Grambling in Lincoln Parish in north Louisiana.-Background:The grandson of a slave, Jones was born in...
was president of historically black Grambling State University
Grambling State University
Grambling State University is a historically black , public, coeducational university, located in Grambling, Louisiana. The university is the home of legendary football coach Eddie Robinson and is on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.-Academics:Grambling State University provides over...
in Grambling
Grambling, Louisiana
Grambling is a city in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,693 at the 2000 census. The city is home to Grambling State University and is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, some five miles from the Tech campus during this same period.
Prior to his service at Louisiana Tech, Taylor was an associate professor of history, dean of men (1952-1956), and dean of the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
-affiliated Louisiana College
Louisiana College
Louisiana College is a private institution of higher education located in Pineville, Louisiana, affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention, serving a student body of approximately 1,300 students. The college operates on a semester system, with two shorter summer terms...
in Pineville
Pineville, Louisiana
Pineville is a city in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is adjacent to the city of Alexandria, and is part of that city's Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,829 at the 2000 census....
in Rapides Parish
Rapides Parish, Louisiana
-Military Installations:*Camp Beauregard *Esler Airfield *England Air Force Base *Camp Claiborne *Camp Livingston -Demographics:...
.
Historian
Taylor's Reluctant Rebel: The Secret Diary of Robert Patrick, 1861-1865 stemmed from the translation of a diary written in PitmanIsaac Pitman
Sir Isaac Pitman , knighted in 1894, developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in Stenographic Soundhand in 1837. Pitman was a qualified teacher and taught at a private school he founded in Wotton-under-Edge...
shorthand
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
by Patrick, a private in the Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Army. A clerk in the commissary and quartermaster departments of the Fourth Louisiana Infantry, Patrick began his diary in April 1861 and wrote until the last days of the conflict. Though the diary was intended only for Patrick's reflections, Taylor was offered the manuscript by Patrick’s niece. Taylor soon determined Patrick to have been a keen observer of events, both military and off-duty. Patrick was present at the 1862 Battle of Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
, named for a community church in southwestern Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. He was at the sieges in 1863 of Vicksburg
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Vicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the only city in Warren County. It is located northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and due west of Jackson, the state capital. In 1900, 14,834 people lived in Vicksburg; in 1910, 20,814; in 1920,...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, and Port Hudson
Port Hudson, Louisiana
Port Hudson is a small unincorporated community in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. Located about northwest of Baton Rouge, it is most famous for an American Civil War battle known as the Siege of Port Hudson.-Geography:...
, north of Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, Louisiana. He participated in the retreat from the Battle of Atlanta
Battle of Atlanta
The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman overwhelmed...
in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
There, Patrick's regiment experienced one of the highest records for casualties in the entire Confederate Army. Patrick was particularly knowledgeable about logistics, supply, and the evaluation of the competence of his superior officers. Patrick’s integrity and writing skill give his diary realism. Though anecdotal, the work is considered a revealing portrait of a soldier in the lower echelons of the Confederate military. Taylor said that Patrick was "very loyal to the South, but he never really understood his role as a Confederate soldier." In 2007, Taylor donated his Civil War artifacts, including the Robert Patrick materials, to the Tech Department of Special Collections, Manuscripts and Archives, a move that Taylor described as "saying goodbye to an old friend."
Taylor's other work is The United States and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, with the introduction by the diplomatic historian Claude G. Bowers.
Taylor also read the initial manuscript for Professor John D. Winters
John D. Winters
John David Winters was a historian at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, best known for his definitive and award-winning study, The Civil War in Louisiana, still in print, published in 1963 and released in paperback in 1991.-Background:Winters was born to John David Winters, Sr...
' The Civil War in Louisiana (1963).
Other activities
Taylor served on numerous state and national boards and commissions. A nationally recognized expert in the field of labor arbitrationArbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
, he was chairman of the Labor-Management Commission of Inquiry, National Academy of Arbitrators, labor panels of the American Arbitration Association, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
He was a member of the Ruston Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
and served on the boards of the Ruston Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
and Ruston Civic Club.
In 1971, the University of California Alumni Association cited Taylor for "outstanding achievement" and honored him at the school's homecoming. In 1985, he was similarly recognized by his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
Tulane as an outstanding alumnus of the graduate school.
In 1996, Taylor donated $900 to the unsuccessful campaign for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
waged by now State Senator
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
Francis C. Thompson
Francis C. Thompson
Francis Coleman Thompson is a wealthy developer from Delhi in Richland Parish, Louisiana, U.S., where he served as a senior Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He served continuously from 1975 until 2007...
, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
from Delhi
Delhi, Louisiana
Delhi, originally called Deerfield, is a town in Richland Parish, Louisiana, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,066.-History:...
, who lost to the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
John Cooksey
John Cooksey
John Charles Cooksey, M.D. is an ophthalmologist who was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana from 1997 to 2003.-Early life:...
of Monroe
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
.
Taylor was a board member of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc., a company previously headed by the Louisiana Tech alumnus Loy F. Weaver
Loy F. Weaver
Loy Frank Weaver is a retired banker from Homer, the seat of Claiborne Parish in north Louisiana, who served as a Democrat in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976-1984...
, a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
from Homer
Homer, Louisiana
Homer is present day parish seat of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town was named after the Greek poet Homer and was laid out around the Courthouse Square in 1850 by Frank Vaughn. The present day brick courthouse, built in the Greek Revival style of architecture, is one of only...
in Claiborne Parish
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Claiborne Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Homer and as of 2000, the population is 16,851.-History:The parish is named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne....
.
Prior to the building of the current president's home near the Tech stadium, Taylor resided in a plantation-style house in what is now the Ropp Center, which is named for R. L. Ropp, Taylor's predecessor as president, who served from 1949-1962.
Death and legacy
On April 18, 1946, Taylor married the former Evelyn Marie Bast. The couple had one son, Terry J. Taylor (born 1947). Terry Taylor is a veteran of the United States Air ForceUnited States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
and a retired Delta Airlines pilot. In 2007, he was a flight and ground instructor with Sporty's Academy at the Clermont County
Clermont County, Ohio
Clermont County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States, just east of Cincinnati. As of 2010, the population was 197,363. Its county seat is Batavia...
Airport in Batavia
Batavia, Ohio
Batavia is a village in and the county seat of Clermont County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,617 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Batavia is located at ....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. He and his wife, the former Bernardine Hartley, reside in Batavia, near Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. They have two children, Andrew Taylor of Gainesville
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, and Jennifer Taylor Williams of West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
, Florida. At some point prior to 1982, the marriage to Evelyn ended. Thereafter by 1988 or earlier, Taylor had wed the former Linda Lou Kavanaugh.
Claybrook Cottingham
Claybrook Cottingham
Claybrook C. Cottingham was an educator who served as president of both Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College in Pineville and the public institution, Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana....
, R. L. Ropp's predecessor as the Louisiana Tech president, also had previous ties to Louisiana College, where he was the second president of the institution, having served from 1910–1941, before he came to Louisiana Tech. Taylor was a Louisiana Tech student during Cottingham's first year as president there. Cottingham's tenure at Louisiana College hence preceded Taylor's academic career.
In a 2003 interview with the Monroe News Star
Monroe News Star
The News-Star is the principal newspaper of Monroe and northeastern Louisiana. Its circulation area ranges over some dozen parishes from Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, on the west, to Tallulah in Madison Parish on the east, to the Arkansas state line on the north, and to Ferriday in Concordia...
, Taylor described his goal as "helping to bring Louisiana Tech onto the national and international scene."
Taylor was succeeded as the Tech president by his vice-president, Daniel Reneau. On Taylor's death in Ruston at the age of eighty-seven, Reneau described his predecessor as "a great leader and a great president. I was privileged to serve seven years under him as vice president. A senior statesman and point guard in the Tech family has fallen, and we will miss him greatly."
Taylor's services were held on May 18, 2011 at the First Baptist Church in downtown Ruston. Interment followed at Greenwood Cemetery.