Mr. John H. Taylor, Jr.

BIOGRAPHY

John Taylor is executive director of the Delaware Public Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established to conduct research and encourage study and discussions of policies, programs and issues affecting the State of Delaware.

Mr. Taylor retired in July 2005 as the editorial page editor of The News Journal Co., a post he had held for 22 years. Before becoming editorial page editor, he had been deputy editor for four years. Prior to that he was the Metropolitan Editor at the paper, overseeing all newsroom operations.

He joined The News Journal in 1966 as a reporter. He left the paper from 1969 to 1971 to serve as assistant to the superintendent of the Wilmington Public Schools. Before joining the newspaper he taught English and History as St. Mary's Secondary School in Tilbury, England.

Mr. Taylor has won a number of local and national awards for his writing and community service, including the Helen Wise Friend of Education Award from the Delaware State Education Association and the Mark Twain Award for column writing from the Associated Press (four times). He was the 1999 recipient of the Chairman's Award from the United Way of Delaware.

Mr. Taylor was a founding member and former chair of the Delaware Bar, Bench, Media Conference, an organization of judges, attorneys and media representatives whose mission is to improve mutual understanding of each others' professions. He is a member of the Christiana Care Board of Trustees, the board of the William P. Frank Scholarship Fund. Inc. and the boards of the Ministry of Caring, The Red Clay Foundation and of Stand Up for What's Right and Just.

He is a past president of the National Conference of Editorial writers and a current member of the NCEW Foundation board.

Mr. Taylor holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto and a master's degree from the University of Delaware. He has taught journalism at both Wilmington College and the University of Delaware. He is a regular panelist on Political Perspectives, a production of WHYY TV-12 .

He is married to Maria Greeney Taylor, who recently retired as Director of Information and Education at the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. They live in Greenville DE. The Taylors have four adult children and four grandchildren