Patricia Elsie Taylor

Pat, as she was affectionately known by her family and friends, passed away peacefully at the Red Oak Retirement Residence in Ottawa ( Kanata ) on September 9, 2024. By all accounts and to all who knew her, Pat was a great lady and a woman of consequence. 

Born into a Chinese immigrant family with seven siblings in a town actually called Townsville in Queensland, Australia in 1929, Pat rose from modest beginnings to reach astounding academic and professional heights. One could almost predict as much when she left Australia and hitchhiked across Europe alone at the age of 18. Pat went on from there to pursue university studies and then to attend UC Berkeley where she obtained a PhD in microbiology. Along with her academic studies, Pat was a violinist with the universities of Queensland and California orchestras and danced with ballet companies in Australia and Guatemala. Berkeley was also the place where Pat met, fell in love, and married her fellow student ( and future Canadian diplomatic hero ) Ken Taylor who was studying for an MBA at the time. Soon after their marriage, Ken joined the Canadian Foreign Service and was assigned to Guatemala on his first overseas posting. Not content to only support her husband's diplomatic career, Pat sought out and landed her own job as a medical research scientist at the Insitute of Nutrition for Central America in Guatemala City. Unusual at the time for a diplomatic spouse. A true trailblazer! 

This was just the beginning of many notable achievements in her field while accompanying her husband on his diplomatic postings to Detroit, Karachi, London, Tehran, New York City and headquarters in Ottawa where Pat was head of the National Hepatitis Reference Laboratory and became chief of the Virus Diagnostic Services Division at the department of National Health and Welfare. During and following the years Ken was Canadian Consul General in New York, Pat worked tirelessly at the New York Blood Clinic on AIDS research with her colleague and close friend Dr. Cladd Stevens and regularly attended the annual AIDS conferences around the world. During her career, Pat published more than 100 papers on tropical diseases and viral infections. 

Dr. Taylor held a number of research fellowships and scholarships including an International Fellowship from the American Association of University Women, as well as Fullbright and Rockefeller Foundation Grants. Her awards include Woman of the Year from the Canadian Womens Club of New York and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from St. Francis Xavier University. She is also a member of the Order of Canada. 

Apart from her professional success story, Pat was perhaps even better known on a personal level for her winning personality. Her grace and charm, compassion and kindness and her trademark and ever-present sense of humor, all made her an instant hit with friends and colleagues alike. An example of her quick wit was when she and Ken were invited by actor/director Ben Afleck to a private preview of his Oscar winning movie Argo about the daring escape of six American diplomats from Tehran (engineered by Ambassador Taylor and his team at the Canadian Embassy ). During the final dramatic moments of the film, Pat leaned over and whispered to Ken : 'Did we get out ok' ?!? As she moved into her nineties, with the accompanying age-related ailments and restrictions, one of her favorite quips was: ' I don't know why they call these the Golden Years '! But she never complained. 

Pat Taylor was a truly remarkable person beloved by family and friends. She may be gone but her legacy will live on as a shining example and inspiration to all of us. She will be dearly missed. 

One of eleven siblings, family was everything to Pat. She is survived by her sister June, brother Tuppie, and son Douglas together with his family, wife Dana and Pat’s shining stars, grandchildren Tristan and Kassia, and her loving, extended, multi generational family in Australia that Pat would take every opportunity to visit. 

A private memorial service will be held at Mount Pleasant Cemetery Necropolis in Toronto where Pat will be interred next to her deceased husband Ken.

 A special thank you with deep gratitude goes out to the nurses and staff at the Red Oak for their exceptional and dedicated care over the last few years