Thayer C. Taylor

Thayer Clifford Taylor, 94, of Marietta, GA passed away peacefully at home on Monday, March 12, 2018. Thayer was born in Malden, Massachusetts in 1923, and was raised in the Boston area by his mother and step-father, Louise and Alfred Repetto. He graduated from Northeastern University in 1944 with a degree in Journalism. Early in his career as a sports journalist he twice had the good fortune to interview the legendary Ted Williams. However, his journalism career was ultimately defined by the 35+ years he spent with Sales & Marketing Management Magazine (Bill Communications), writing insightful and sometimes award-winning articles on the advent and application of computer technology in the business world.

Once Thayer retired, he was free to pursue several passions. Early on, he developed an interest in travel, and took several senior hostel trips overseas in the 1980s and early 1990s, primarily to places a bit off the beaten path (at the time), immersing himself in the cultures and life of the cities and towns he visited (China, Russia, Vietnam and India to name a few of the countries he visited). These trips also allowed him to pursue his passion for photography, and he would return from these trips with loads of photographs of the places he visited, the people he met and the things he had seen.

Writing also remained an important part of his life in retirement, and he would look for different opportunities to write, whether it was the occasional freelance job to make a little extra cash, keeping a diary or applying his talent to create and publish newsletters for the various Independent Senior Living Centers where he lived. In this latter endeavor, he peppered the articles with photographs of the residents, the places they visited and the activities they shared.

Virtually all good writers are also big readers, and Thayer was no exception. He was always surrounded by several books and magazines that he was in the middle of reading, and in retirement he became a fixture in the common areas of the senior living center, reading the New York Times cover-to-cover every day, followed by one of the many magazines or books he constantly had with him.

Throughout it all, his greatest passion might have been baseball. Just as it marked the beginning of his journalism career, it also was a constant throughout his retirement. He could easily spend a day watching two day games followed by two night games. And every year he dreaded the days between the last game of the World Series and the first game of spring training the following season! To paraphrase (the writer) Terrence Mann from the movie Field of Dreams – “The one constant through all the years has been baseball … baseball has marked the (passage of) time” – that was certainly true for Thayer!

Thayer is survived by his three sons, Michael, Daniel and Mark; seven grandchildren; his beloved sister Eleanor Albertelli and ten nieces and nephews.

A visitation and celebration of Thayer’s life will be held on Monday, March 26, 2018 at 1:30 pm at Sterling Estates Senior Living Center, 4220 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta, GA.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you send a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association.