Newspaper man Doug Taylor passed away on May 20th, but I didn’t find out about it until this past Monday—found out through a friend of a friend.
He was on Facebook. I went to see if I had sent him a birthday message on August 29th. I had, just like I had done every year, but he never responded to any of my birthday wishes. Looking at Doug’s Facebook wall, he seldom wrote anything. I don’t think he was into social medial all that much.
Doug ran the Downtowner weekly newspaper in Cincinnati, Ohio for many years. Again, he was a newspaper man. I met him in a bar in downtown Cincinnati. I’m not going to mention the name of it, because the bar tuned its back on my favorite bartender, so I don’t feel like promoting the damn place. When Doug found out I wrote for CityBeat, he knew I was a newspaper man too and we became friends.
In 2006, Doug turned operations of the Downtowner over to businessman Roger Ach, signing a one year contract to continue to be the paper’s editor. After that one year contract was up, Ach let Doug go. Doug stilled owned most of the Downtowner racks and boxes and Ach, who doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation in Cincinnati, wanted to continue to use them without paying for them. Doug filed a lawsuit.
I can’t remember how this all came out and maybe it doesn’t matter Now. Ach changed the name of the newspaper to Pulse and quickly ran the operation into the ground.
After Doug left the Downtowner, sometimes he would contribute to my “Living Out Loud” column in CityBeat. It was an odd fit. Doug was more of a conservative kind of guy with most of us there being pretty liberal.
I usually lose track of time badly, but I remember the last time I saw Doug. I was part of this “The Big Reveal” show—a storytelling show—at the York Street Café in Newport, Kentucky in late June, 2010. Doug and his girlfriend were nice enough to show up and be supportive.
And that was how Doug Taylor was. Nice. Simply a nice guy. Whenever I think of Doug, I always think of him smiling—always had a smile on his face. He was a happy type of person.
He and I seldom ever agreed on anything but it didn’t really matter. We still liked each other and would kid each other about our differences. It was always fun to hang out with Doug.
Looking at this wall on Facebook, I see he spent his final days in hospice care. I don’t know what he died from, but I feel bad that he’s gone.
I’m sorry it took me this long to find out about his passing, and I’m sorry we got so out of touch with one another. That’s what happens in life, of course, and I can’t do anything about it except regret it.
I want to give my belated condolences to his family. I’m not telling them anything they don’t already know, but Doug Taylor was a very, very good man.
(Photo from CityBeat)