As a child watching the evening news on television every night after supper, Chanda Taylor had a persistent question: How does the news get done?

In fifth grade, she wrote a letter inviting a local CBS newsman to her Newnan elementary school, said her sister, Loren Taylor of Newnan. Her interest in the news never waned.

After graduating from Northwestern University's prestigious journalism school in Evanston, Ill., Ms. Taylor became one of those people she admired from childhood, a television news producer.

Ms. Taylor's knowledge of the news and how she wanted to present it was key to CNN hiring her as a producer in August.

"It was her spirit and enthusiasm," said Jim Proeller of Douglasville, CNN's senior director of editorial operations. "For her, it was all about how people were impacted by what was in the news."

Chanda Nicole Taylor, 35, died of brain cancer at her Newnan residence on Thursday. The funeral will be 1 p.m. Tuesday at First Iconium Baptist Church. Roscoe Jenkins Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Ms. Taylor became a news producer at WSB in 1998. That's where Deidra Dukes of College Park, now a WAGA news anchor, met her. "There was no crisis she couldn't tackle. Chanda was one of those people who stayed cool, calm and collected, who really kept her head in a crisis," Ms. Dukes said.

In a fact-based business, Ms. Taylor had facts about everything in her head or at her fingertips. "Honestly, she was one of the smartest people I've ever met. You couldn't stump her," Ms. Dukes said.

WSB senior anchor reporter Monica Pearson of Atlanta said, "In the middle of the most raging storms, things literally exploding on air, Chanda's voice never changed in your ear. She was unflappable. Chanda came on in a steady calm voice telling you what they were going to do and how you were going to react to it."

"Running that show, she was perfection," she said. WSB and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are owned by Cox Enterprises.

While at WSB, Ms. Taylor served a term as president of the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists. "She took the helm during a time the association really needed strong leadership to keep it on track," Ms. Dukes said. "With Chanda at the helm, we were financially secure and an asset to the community."

"That was a critical point for AABJ," said WSB news anchor Jovita Moore of Atlanta. "She was among the first young leaders to take the helm. She pulled that organization together."

That take-charge approach didn't surprise her family.

"We affectionately called her Task Master," her sister said. "She was meticulous with details and was a list maker." She would analyze a task and eliminate unnecessary steps to get the job completed more quickly, just as she did in producing television shows.

She didn't have that discipline when it came to her pampered, 10-year-old, 23-pound cat. "Smoky is a huge mega-cat that is so spoiled she is extremely idiosyncratic," her sister said.

Though her friends admired Ms. Taylor's irreverent wit and ability to find the humor in any situation, Smoky was off-limits. "You couldn't joke about that cat," Ms. Dukes said. "It is as big as a small dog."

A bit of wit insight is on Ms. Taylor's blog. The question is posed: What would you wear for camouflage if you were hiding in a gingerbread house? Ms. Taylor's reply: Graham crackers, duh!

"You could share a laugh with Chanda and always trust that laugh would brighten your day," Ms. Moore said.

Survivors include her mother, Carolyn Abrams Taylor of Newnan.