Dr. William G. "Doc" Taylor

TAYLOR, M.D., “Doc” William Gramer, age 92, of Tampa Florida passed peacefully to God on August 6, 2020. He was born on March 14, 1928 in Charleston, West Virginia the son of Walden “Pete” Hamer Taylor and Ethel Marie Lebel Taylor Bernard. He was predeceased by his parents, sister Joan Taylor Munger and his brother Andrew Walden Taylor. He is survived by his children’s mother Gloria LaRocca Taylor Wear, his sister Jane Taylor Boza and nieces Maria Ellen Boza and Amanda Jane Boza, brother John Earle Taylor, niece Melissa Ellen Taylor and husband Don, his son Steven Paul Taylor Esq., his daughters Suzanne Marie Taylor Ringwood and husband John, Sabrina Taylor Shipley Bernard, his grandchildren Samuel Taylor Shipley and wife Krystalynn Lopez Shipley, John Francis Ringwood, Andrew Taylor Ringwood, Katherine Suzanne Ringwood, Rachel Elise Taylor Conway and husband Ben, greatgrandchildren Samuel Taylor Shipley II, Noah William Shipley and Luke Douglas Shipley, as well as nieces Mary Munger Taylor and husband Robert, Katy Munger Feller, Bridget Munger Jeffers and nephew David Munger. He is also survived by Carrie Lou Dorman as well as other great-nieces and great-nephews.

He served in the United States Navy at the age of 18 for four years as an Air Traffic Controller in

the Philippine Islands. He went on to graduate from Tulane University New Orleans premedical

studies in 1953 and University of Tennessee College of Medicine Memphis in 1956.

His pursuit of specialty in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery led him through Internship at St.

Mary’s Hospital West Palm Beach Florida, Surgery Residency at Kaiser Foundation Hospital

Oakland California and Plastic Surgery Preceptorship at the Cronin-Brauer Institute Houston

Texas. He achieved Licensure through the American Board of Plastic and Reconstructive

Surgery in 1965, and became licensed to practice his specialty in Texas, Florida and California.

He was appointed Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at the University of South

Florida College of Medicine in Tampa from 1973 through 1980 and served as Consultant in

Plastic Surgery for the Veteran’s Administration Hospital Tampa from 1974 through 1980. He

actively participated as a Fellow and Member of many medical specialty Colleges, Academies,

Societies and Associations, and held hospital staff appointments at many hospitals in Texas,

Florida and California throughout his 46-year practice. He maintained successful private

practice clinics in Florida and California throughout the duration of his surgical career. He was

noted for his innovative creation of new surgical techniques in cleft palate repair, burn

treatments and repair, and various diverse reconstructive techniques in both general and

cosmetic plastic surgery. He was a passionate and truly accomplished artist in his field.

However, his compassion and genuine caring for his patients extended far beyond his hospital

and private practices. He pursued joining various groups such as the Pan American Surgical

Association, the Christian Emergency Relief Team and the Rescue Task Force. Over three

decades he made medical mission expeditions to war-torn countries and to those with no

access to a surgeon’s hands to assist in restoring children to a more normal life.

In the 1970’s he began his medical missionary life by traveling to Central America including

Nicaragua under the dictatorship of President Anastasio Somoza, as well as Panama, bringing

his healing skills to children who desperately needed surgical care for cleft palates and other

deformities. In the 1980’s at the height of the Soviet military oppression of the tribes of

Afghanistan, he served as the volunteer surgeon on a dangerous mission wherein all members

of the team had a bounty on their heads. They set up a surgical tent with no electricity, no

running water and only the instruments he was able to smuggle in with no more than a

backpack. Embedded with the tribes and disguised as a native Afghan, he surgically repaired

cleft palates and the damaged hands of unfortunate children injured by explosive toys which

were distributed by the Soviet army across the desert and mountain passes. In the 1990’s he

voyaged to Inner Mongolia under communist China control where numerous cleft palate

patients were awaiting his skillful hands for reconstruction and repair. No matter where he

went to any corner of the world he brought passion, energy and talent to children with

deformities and injuries, and he left them with new smiles and new hope.

Fearless in his self-taught endeavors, his personal interests included sailing, building small

sailing vessels, brick construction of barbecue and smoke pits to accommodate his cooking

adventures, extensive horticultural experimentation with citrus, his prized and varied flower

gardens, photography, outdoor sports such as snow-skiing and scuba diving, and creative

businesses. He truly enjoyed exchanging his surgical talents for the trades of those who

required but could not afford the skills and costs of needed plastic surgery.

“Doc” Taylor was a most unforgettable, true renaissance man and he will be greatly missed and

forever remembered with love and admiration.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to one of his three favorite charitable

organizations:

contributions in "Doc Taylor's" memory may be made to Smile Train, 633 Third Avenue 9th Floor, New York, NY 10017, https://www.smiletrain.org/; Hillsdale College, 33 East College Street, Hillsdale, Michigan 49242 US, https://www.hillsdale.edu/; and Lions Club of San Diego