L.B. “Bob” Taylor, Jr., of Williamsburg, was the author of 50 non-fiction books, including 25 on Virginia ghosts, and wrote over 300 national magazine articles. In 2007, Mr. Taylor was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Virginia’s Writer’s Club.
Mr. Taylor died Feb. 23, 2014. He was 81 years old.
He was a native of Lynchburg and a journalism graduate of Florida State University. Following service with the U.S. Army in Heidelberg, Germany, he spent 10 years as a public information officer for NASA and aerospace contractors at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He covered all space flight launches from America’s first satellite, Explorer I, in 1958, through the manned missions of Mercury and Gemini and later reported on the Apollo 11 first manned lunar landing. During this period he served as editor of Spaceport News, NASA’s newspaper, for five years.
Mr. Taylor was a magazine editor for North American Aviation and Rockwell International in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh before moving to Williamsburg in 1974 as public affairs director of BASF Corporation. He retired in 1993.
Throughout his career, Mr. Taylor also was a freelance writer. His articles appeared in such publications as The Reader’s Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal and True Magazine.
His first book, Pieces of Eight, Recovering the Riches of a Lost Spanish Treasure Fleet, was published in 1966 in several languages and is still in print. Other book subjects included America’s space programs, a history of Cape Canaveral and various others ranging from electronic surveillance to hostage taking.
In 1983, Mr. Taylor published The Ghosts of Williamsburg, which has sold more than 150,000 copies. This book led to the origination of the city’s popular ghost tours, which have entertained hundreds of thousands of visitors. This book was followed by 24 others, including a 13-volume series on Virginia ghosts.
Over the past 30-plus years he gave hundreds of presentations on the commonwealth’s paranormal phenomena to schools, libraries and other organizations all across Virginia and received many honorary awards.
He is survived by his wife, Brenda Goens Taylor; children, Cindy Taylor, of Great Falls, Va., Chris Taylor, of Clearwater, Fla. and Tony Taylor, of Williamsburg; and grandchildren, Emily Willis, Andrew Myers and Ryan Taylor.
A visitation for family and friends will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 26, 2014, at Nelsen Funeral Home, 3785 Strawberry Plains Road, Williamsburg.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Heritage Humane Society, to your local library or to a charity of your choice.
Online condolences may be offered at www.nelsencares.com.
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