For more than 50 years, Dr. W. Jape Taylor watched the UF College of Medicine grow from a startup school to one that is well established in the medical community.
Taylor, who joined the staff in 1958 as its first chief of cardiology, died in his sleep March 22 at age 86.
He left behind a legacy at UF as one of its finest professors. Throughout his teaching career, he was known as one of the toughest and best teachers in the college.
“He was a tough bedside physician because he demanded that you know what you were doing when you presented a case,” said Mark Barrow, a retired physician who was a member of the class of 1960, the first class of students to graduate from UF’s medical program.
The biggest lesson Barrow said he learned from Taylor was to completely concentrate on a patient when he was talking to him or her and to never let his mind wander during the conversation.
Barrow recalled seeing his former teacher at a class reunion last fall and how emotional the experience was.
“We were all extremely close and held him in the very highest regard,” Barrow said. “A lot of the people hadn’t been back for 50 years, and they hugged him and kissed him.”
Taylor was born in 1924 in Booneville, Miss. He attended Yale University as an undergraduate student at 16 before earning a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1947.
He didn’t originally plan to become a doctor, said Dr. Michael Good, dean of the College of Medicine, in an email to faculty and staff announcing Taylor’s death.
He was interested in pursuing zoology or biology as a career until the U.S. Navy recruited him during World War II to become a physician.
As a doctor, he practiced medicine, taught aspiring physicians and conducted medical research.
While at UF, he also established a chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, a nonprofit organization that advocates the prevention of nuclear warfare and the reduction of the environmental effects of toxic degradation and global warming.
Although Taylor retired from teaching in 1996, he remained involved with university affairs and remained close with his friends on the faculty.
Parker Small, Jr., professor emeritus of pathology and pediatrics at UF, played tennis on Sundays and bridge on Mondays with Taylor for years. They became friends after Small joined the UF staff in 1966.
Taylor had a competitive spirit, whether he was playing tennis, bridge or another game, Small said.
In addition to being a good teacher, Taylor was also “the doctor’s doctor,” he said. He was the personal doctor of several of his colleagues, which showed his clinical skill and the respect his fellow physicians had for him.
His family is planning a memorial service that will be held later in the spring, Good said.
Taylor is survived by four sons and three grandchildren.
Taylor’s wife, Audrey, died three years ago after 60 years of marriage, Barrow said.
“He was ready to go,” he said. “I dearly miss him and always will, but we all have to go. That’s the way it is.”
