Joe Taylor helped get Northside Hospital off to a flying start. Through the mid-1960s, he was a consultant intimately involved with every aspect of its planning, site selection, land acquisition and construction. And in 1968, when it came time to pick an administrator, he was the only candidate interviewed.
"Joe was like the answer to the prayers of the new hospital authority and its medical staff. He was forthright, industrious, knowledgeable -- and he was almost too nice to be an administrator," said Dr. Charles Marvin Silverstein of Sandy Springs, one of Northside's original physicians and author of a history, "First on the Hill: Atlanta's Medical Camelot," referring to Northside's prominent location on "Pill Hill."
During Mr. Taylor's years as administrator from 1968 to 1973, he was "completely in synch with the medical staff," Dr. Silverstein said.
Mr. Taylor was receptive to innovation as well. Under his leadership, the hospital established Atlanta's first outpatient surgery unit and its first community mental health center. Also during his tenure, Northside led the way locally in epidural analgesia and Lemaze procedures for maternity patients.
Mr. Taylor would have liked to have become a physician, but by the time he applied for medical school, he was told by three of them that he was too old at age 31. As he said in a 1999 article in "The State of Business," a Georgia State University School of Business publication, the rejections came before there were policies against age discrimination.
"I've never really regretted not going [to medical school] because I've greatly enjoyed my career." he added.
Joseph Kreycik Taylor, 86, died April 29 at his Atlanta residence of complications of lymphoma. No service is planned. His family and friends celebrated his life two weeks before his death at a party he attended and enjoyed immensely, said his son, Keith Kreycik of Atlanta. As was Mr. Taylor's wish, his body was donated to the Emory University School of Medicine.
Born and reared in Nebraska, he entered the U.S. Navy in 1942 and was assigned to officers' training at the University of Texas, where he obtained a degree in electrical engineering. Once back in civilian life, however, he turned to the healthcare field, first selling medical equipment. After obtaining a master's in healthcare management at Northwestern University in 1953, he administered small hospitals in Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and LaGrange, Ga., from where he was recruited as a Northside consultant.
Following his tenure as Northside's administrator, he was invited to teach a course in hospital management at Georgia State University. In the "State of Business" article, he said he grew to cherish the intellectual interaction with his students. The more he taught, the more he said he was inspired to earn a doctorate in health administration at GSU, which he did in 1978.
"Joe had a lot of influence in establishing hospital management as an academic discipline," said Andrew Sumner, director of GSU's Institute of Health Management.
For the next 15 years, he taught and ultimately chaired the department of healthcare management at the University of Houston's Clear Lake (Texas) campus. He also made frequent trips abroad to teach his specialty in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France, Mexico and China.
One former Houston student, Bill Reddick of Marietta, now chief financial officer for a pharmaceutical firm, Celtaxsys Inc., said Mr. Taylor urged students to get out of the classroom and learn from hospital experiences. "He was passionate about helping people -- doctors and staff certainly -- but ultimately patients," Mr. Reddick said.
After his retirement from the University of Houston, he and his wife returned to Atlanta in 1993, "but you could hardly say Dad retired altogether," said Mr. Kreycik.
For several years Mr. Taylor was human resources director for his son John Taylor's firm, T-Tech Inc., a circuit-board manufacturer. He also was chairman of the Georgia State University Foundation's finance committee and a director on the boards of Blue Cross of Georgia, the Galloway Schools and the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta.
Mr. Kreycik said his father was an avid reader with wide-ranging interests, but business news in particular. A fundamentalist investor for half a century who focused on business basics, Mr. Taylor made smart stock-market choices, his son said. "Dad also knocked the socks off his opponents at Trivial Pursuit," he added.
Survivors also include his wife, Lou Taylor; a daughter, Dr. Jane Taylor of St. Paul, Minn.; another son, John Taylor of Norcross; a sister, Ruth Prendergast of Denver; two brothers, Robert Kreycik also of Denver and Edward Kreycik of Hendersonville, N.C., and two grandchildren.
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