Edgar Rives Taylor Jr.

Edgar Rives Taylor, Jr., originally of Jacksonville, Fla. and resident of Blackridge in Wilkinsburg for over 50 years passed on January 31, 2017, in Houston, Texas after a brief illness.  He was a descendant of early southern ancestors and was an avid amateur genealogist and historian.  He was a charter member of the Western Pennsylvania Genealogy Society, among the original ten members who met in Mrs. Helen Harris' living room in 1974 to organize this Society. He was also a member of the National Society of Genealogists for over 25 years as well as other genealogical societies, including the Chatham Co. Historical Association in North Carolina.

Mr. Taylor was the author of several family histories (including "The Dewees Family of Florida," widely copied by other family genealogists, and "Relatives of Cornelius Taylor," his ancestor) He also compiled the history of the village of Mayport, Fla., which is on the Spanish land granted to his ancestor Andrew Dewees.

He was past president of the Wilkinsburg Historical Society and one of the authors of the book, "Images of America - Wilkinsburg." He had been the Archivist and Historian of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wilkinsburg for many years, and was the author of the church's application for a historical marker from the Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation.

Edgar graduated from Cornell University in 1952 with the 5 - year degrees of Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Master of Engineering. He was elected a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honorary Society and the Eta Kappa NU Electrical Engineers Honorary Society.  His thesis on non-linear oscillations in electrical power systems, written while a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, was later published by the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Mr. Taylor was a member of the ROTC at Cornell, serving as a battalion commander and soon rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps of the U. S. Army Reserve.  Shortly following his graduation, he was called to active duty, first at the Signal Corps school in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey where he received Top Secret (Crypto) clearance and later to Korea where he was attached to the Pusan relief and Rehabilitation Section of the Corps of Engineers, planning the rebuilding of the electrical power distribution in South Korea.  For meritorious service there he was awarded the Bronze Star as well as a Certificate of Appointment as an Honorary Citizen of Korea in appreciation for his assistance rendered to the Korean Relief's Hunger and Sickness Campaign. Following his service, he left the US Army with the rank of Captain.

Ed was employed by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation for nearly 30 years in Pittsburgh. He has one patent in his name alone and another with others. While at Westinghouse he was promoted to Sponsor Engineer for the southern electric utilities, then Manager, and finally Consulting Engineer, the highest engineering position in Westinghouse. After the sale of his division to the ASEA Brown Boveri Company, he joined their ranks in Pittsburgh and later in Raleigh, North Carolina as a Senior Consultant. Following his retirement from ABB, Mr. Taylor taught advanced electrical engineering courses for Westinghouse, Carnegie Mellon, and ASEA Brown Boveri.  He was a Life Fellow Member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (later the Institute of electrical Engineers) and the author of numerous AIEE and IEEE technical papers.

Mr. Taylor was a 50-year life member of the Masons, and became a Mason in the Orient Masonic Lodge, No. 590, then in Wilkinsburg, a member of the Scottish Rite, and of the Syria Shrine.  He was 32nd degree Mason.

He was the son of the late Edgar Rives and Eleanor Louise Taylor, formerly of Jacksonville, Fla. Mr. Taylor was predeceased last October by his wife of 64 years, Guion Trau Taylor.  He is survived by two sons: Rives Trau Taylor (Loretta Coonan) of Houston, Texas, and the Rev. Edgar Garland ("Gary") Taylor (Karen Shipley) of New Orleans, LA., and three grandchildren, Charles Shipley Taylor, Gwendolyn Guion Taylor, an Theodore Jenot Taylor, in addition to many cousins, nieces and nephews.