Robert Taylor

Robert Edwin Taylor of Shaker Heights died Thursday at Judson Park at age 87. A graduate of Cleveland Heights High School and the College of Wooster, Bob enlisted in the Army and served in Europe in World War II in the infantry and later as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes in Paris in which he printed the news that Germany had surrendered. He worked in advertising and marketing at Republic Steel Corporation for nearly 20 years. While there he developed the use of steel flooring for barns, enabling farmers to raise more and healthier animals. He won the National Safety Council's Outstanding Achievement Award 10 straight times for his work promoting farm safety as editor of The Farm Spokesman. He represented the steel industry on numerous national and international building code committees. When Republic Steel failed in the 1970s, Bob took engineering and law courses and combined his lifelong interest in fire fighting and his understanding of building codes into a new career. With a partner he founded Smoke Fire Risk Management and greatly enjoyed his new profession as a fire protection engineer, arson investigator and expert witness. Over three decades, he worked closely with countless fire departments studying how various materials, construction and systems contributed to some of the most devastating fires across the country. He taught fire technology seminars at more than 40 universities. Of special interest was his work designing positive pressure systems to rapidly remove smoke, the silent killer in fires, from buildings. He received a patent for fire suppression technology that was instrumental in extinguishing the Kuwait oil well fires. He received numerous awards for his work in the fire and engineering fields. For many years Clevelanders saw Bob at Christmastime, in a public service segment on TV, demonstrating how quickly and violently an unwatered, dried-out Christmas tree could burn. A conservationist since childhood, Bob worked on reforestation and water quality projects in Ohio and in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and generously shared his extensive knowledge of the natural world with all. He was an avid birder, having learned birding in the Cleveland parks as a young Boy Scout, and was known for his ability to identify most birds by their calls. His volunteer work was extensive, including serving in leadership roles at the Shaker Historical Society, the American Legion, Dunham Tavern, the Cleveland Skating Club, The Kirtlandia Society at the Natural History Museum and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to name a few. He was an active member of Rotary and a lifelong member of Fairmount Presbyterian Church where he sang in the choir for decades. He leaves his beloved wife of 62 years, Mary Ann Taylor, and his three daughters Deborah Martin, Alisa Cowen and Patricia Taylor, and 7 grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bob's memory may be made to the Shaker Historical Museum, Fairmount Presbyterian Church and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.


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