Chaz Taylor

At DC Diamond Circulate, 2009

Charles Henry Taylor III
16 Jan 1952 - 07 Jan 2023

Clubs & Associations

Quick Facts

partner of club member Jim Bogden

Obituary

TAYLOR, Charles Henry, III, A freelance writer, journalist and community leader, Charles H. Taylor III passed away suddenly and painlessly early Saturday morning, January 7, 2023, from a blood clot due to COVID-19 infection. The impact of Mr. Taylor's life has been made clear in the days since his passing was announced, as friends, colleagues and family have celebrated his compassion, intelligence, humor and warmth.

Mr. Taylor was born January 16, 1952, in Portsmouth. As a student in the then-segregated Portsmouth Public School system, he graduated from I.C. Norcom High School in 1970 as class salutatorian. Accepted into several universities, Mr. Taylor spent the next three and a half years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he took coursework in Urban Planning. He later completed his bachelor's degree in organizational management at the former Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville.

For more than 30 years, Mr. Taylor applied his many skills to a series of media-related jobs and services. Starting out as a radio news reporter, he went on to host a classical music program and then became a reporter for Richmond Newspapers Inc. He later worked as a corporate communications representative and media and community relations manager for Dominion Power in both Norfolk and Richmond. During this time, he was a member of and served as president of Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals, an affiliate chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Mr. Taylor moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 2001 to work as a senior communications representative for the Pepco power company, periodically appearing on local TV stations to report on blackouts and exploding manhole covers. He later worked as a media relations manager for the Arlington County government and, for 11 years, as a senior staff writer for the National Association of Counties. For his work, he was honored by the National Association of Government Communicators and the International Association of Business Communicators in 2004.

Outside his professional career, Charles met Jim Bogden through the social group Black and White Men Together. As a couple, they enjoyed square dancing with DC Lambda Squares; regularly attended theater, comedy, opera and classical music performances; and traveled to Paris, Nottingham in England, Malta and Cuba.

Upon retiring in 2017, Messrs. Taylor and Bogden sold their 1862 townhouse in Washington, D.C. and moved to Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. There, Mr. Taylor was a member of the Social Action for Racial Justice Committee and served on the boards of the Kent Cultural Alliance, the Sultana Education Foundation and the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.

An avid fan of opera and the symphony, Mr. Taylor was serving on the National Music Festival board of directors as its chair at the time of his death, having previously served as its vice chair.

Mr. Taylor had come out of retirement last year to work with the Richmond Free Press as a freelance reporter and editor. An inveterate wordsmith, he was also a moderator of the New York Times Spelling Bee Facebook group.

Mr. Taylor was predeceased by his father, Charles H. Taylor Jr.; mother, Viola Holland Taylor; and stepmother, Almina Taylor. He is survived by Mr. Bogden; his sisters, Angela Taylor Bunch and Barbara Taylor Spruill (Tyrone); nephew, Jeremy Bunch; nieces, Nicole Spruill, Jessica Bunch, Dionne Spruill and Dana Spruill; grandnieces, Charleigh Bunch and Naomi Spruill; and two sweet Labradoodles, Mina (Joy) and Kashi (light).

A memorial service is slated for Saturday, January 21 in the Fellowship United Church of Christ in Chesapeake. A Celebration of Life also will take place Saturday, January 28 at Shrewsbury Church in Kennedyville, Md.^[1]