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Longtime St. Olaf faculty member Marcella Taylor dies

By David Gonnerman '90
June 24, 2003

Marcella Taylor
Taylor
Marcella Taylor, 69, of Rochester, Minn., a longtime employee of St. Olaf College, died Wednesday, June 11, 2003, at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. She had been diagnosed with cancer three years ago. Taylor received support from family and friends during her illness.

Born Oct. 31, 1933, in the Bahamas, Taylor earned her bachelor?s degree from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., and her master?s and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. She was also a member of the national Catholic honor society Delta Epsilon Sigma.

Taylor taught creative writing, film studies, poetry and English at St. Olaf from 1975 until her retirement in 1996. She also taught in St. Olaf?s paracollege. Taylor was the first faculty member of African descent to make full professor at St. Olaf and the first to retire with emerita status.

Taylor?s funeral was held in the Bahamas, where she was buried next to her parents. Condolences may be sent to her nephew, Michael Jimenez, at P.O. N1260, Nassau, Bahamas.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.