[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 16 (Monday, February 4, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E85]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING JUDGE JAMES H. TAYLOR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 4, 2013

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember my friend, the late Judge 
James H. Taylor, who passed away on October 31 at his home in Upper 
Marlboro, Maryland. A prosecutor, judge, and family man, Jim was also a 
trailblazer as the first African-American to serve on the circuit court 
in Prince George's County.
  Raised in Howard County, Maryland, Jim was one of ten children in a 
family that emphasized hard work and education. As a young man, he 
attended Carver Vocational-Technical High School in Baltimore to learn 
bricklaying, and he worked as a postal employee, a railroad oilman, and 
a cook to help support his widowed mother and his siblings.
  After serving the nation in the Army Air Corps in 1945-1946, Jim 
matriculated at Howard University, where he graduated in 1950. In 1953, 
he was the first African-American law school graduate at American 
University.
  In practicing law as one of the first African-Americans admitted to 
the bar in Prince George's County in 1956, Jim was described as a bold 
prosecutor who took risks and achieved results. Named Maryland's first 
African-American assistant state's attorney in 1963, Jim rose through 
the ranks of our state's legal establishment, breaking barriers along 
the way. In 1969, he was appointed to the bench by Governor Marvin 
Mandel and served for eighteen years before retiring from Maryland's 
Seventh Judicial Circuit in 1987.
  Much of his casework dealt with family and child custody issues, and 
Jim drew on the experiences of his youth to help ensure that rulings of 
the court served the best interests of children and their future 
success.
  An advocate for education in the study and practice of the law, Jim 
was a trustee of Prince George's Community College, which named a 
scholarship in his honor for paralegal students in 1992.
  Above all else, Jim was a gentle giant who was able to accomplish 
great things in service to his fellow citizens without seeking 
attention for himself. He was a master of working behind the scenes to 
help others climb mountains and overcome hardships.
  Jim, who was age 86, is survived by his wife of forty-four years, Jan 
Johnson Taylor; three children, and one stepdaughter; seven 
grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He also leaves behind his 
first wife, Lillian Miles Taylor, and a brother, Captain Milton Taylor 
(Ret.) of the Maryland State Police.
  I join in remembering the life of Judge James H. Taylor and in 
celebrating his groundbreaking achievements as he helped advance the 
cause of justice in Maryland. He will be dearly missed by me and many 
others across my home state--but surely never forgotten.

                          ____________________