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William Taylor, Vigorous Rights Defender, Dies at 78

William L. Taylor, who as a lawyer, lobbyist and government official for more than a half century had significant roles in pressing important civil rights cases and in drafting and defending civil rights legislation, died Monday in Bethesda, Md. He was 78 and lived in Washington.

His son, David Van Taylor, said the direct cause of death was fluid in his lungs, a complication of a head injury he suffered in a fall a month ago.

William Taylor began his long fight for racial justice as a young lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. working with Thurgood Marshall, who would later become a Supreme Court justice. He helped fight some of the difficult civil rights battles that followed the Supreme Court order in 1954 that schools be desegregated....
Read entire article at NYT