William Woodruff Taylor Jr., was born April 1, 1912 in Warrenton, N.C.

He was the son of Dr. W. W. Taylor and Elizabeth Wallace Poindexter Taylor.

He was educated at Miss Lucy Hawkins private school and at public schools in Warrenton.

He studied as an undergraduate at Davidson College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was forced to quit school because of the Depression and worked in numerous small jobs. He then attended Wake Forest Law School from 1932 until August 1933 when he passed the North Carolina Bar examination.

Immediately after Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for service in the United States Army and served until he was honorably discharged.

Mr. Taylor practiced law in North Carolina for 60 years, from 1933 until his retirement on December 31, 1993. He practiced alone or with one or two associates in Warrenton from September 1933 until July 1962. On July 1, 1962, he became a founding member of the Raleigh firm of Maupin Taylor & Ellis, where he practice until his retirement.

While practicing in Warrenton, Mr. Taylor served as prosecuting attorney of the local recorder's court, as county attorney and as attorney for the town of Warrenton. He represented Warrenton in the North Carolina General Assembly for the sessions of 1951, 1953, 1955 and at a special session of 1956. In 1954, he was elected to membership on the Board of Directors of the Citizens Bank of Warrenton and served on that board until 1972.

Mr. Taylor was active in the North Carolina Bar Association for many years and served as its president-elect in 1956-57 and as president in 1957-58. In 1975-77, he served on the North Carolina General Statutes Commission. In 1978, as one of the 12 members of the North Carolina Bar Association appointd to study problems arising from a limited malpractice insurance market. He became a founding member of Lawyers Mututal Liability Insurance Company of North Carolina and served on its Board of Directors until 1994.

Mr. Taylor served on the Board of Trustees of East Carolina University for 15 of the years between 1955 and 1972. He also served for three years on the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina. In May of 1991, Mr. Taylor received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Campbell University. He was appointed to the Campbell University Presidential Board of Advisors in 2001.

Active in the Emanuel Church in Warrenton for many years, he served in all positions open to laymen and taught an adult Bible class for ten years. After moving to Raleigh and becoming a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd, he taught an adult Bible class there for five more years. Mr. Taylor retired to Lexington, Virginia in 1993 where he became a member of St. Paul's Anglican Church and served on its vestry for three years.

A staunch southerner, Mr. Taylor could tell endless stories of the experiences of his ancestors during and after the Civil War. He wrote a book about the position of the South during the tragic era of the 1860s, published under the name, "Let's Tell Our Side Of It For A Change."

Mr. Taylor was first married on April 12, 1941 to Ida Satterfield Winstead of Roxboro, N.C., who died on November 1, 1989. On September 225, 1991, he married Susan Elizabeth Riggs Davidson of Lexington, Virginia. This marriage ended in divorce in 2001. On April 24, 2004 he married Benita Chambers of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Mr. Taylor is survived by his wife, Benita Chambers Taylor; his son, William W. Taylor III of Washington, D.C.; his daughter, Elizabeth Gordon Taylor of Chevy Chase, Maryland; and his five grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Lexington, Virginia at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16, 2008 and at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Warrenton, N.C. at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, May 20, 2008.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the William W. and Ida W. Taylor Honors Fund at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, c/o Office of University Development, P. O. Box 309, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514-0309.

Arrangements are being handled by the Harrison Funeral Home & Crematory, Lexington, Virginia.