Francis B. Taylor ’44, Ph.D., professor emeritus of mathematics and computer science and former chairman of the mathematics department, passed away on Nov. 16, 2007. He was 82. Taylor taught for more than 40 years on Manhattan’s campus. His teaching legacy and generous support of the College is wellknown on campus and continues in the form of the Francis B. Taylor Medal for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a special medal that his colleagues established after his 1990 retirement. It is awarded to the top science student in the senior class at Manhattan’s annual Spring Honors Convocation. “He was a superb teacher,” says Dr. Thomas Smith, professor of mathematics and computer science. “His specialization was mathematical statistics.” Taylor joined the College as a mathematics instructor in 1947. As the statistics expert on campus, he taught a number of difficult courses, including Statistical Quality Control and Statistical Inference. His colleagues, many of whom he also taught as students, recall how he made the material accessible and interesting. “He had a very great sense of exposition,” says Nicholas DeLillo, professor of mathematics and computer science, who took Taylor’s Statistical Quality Control course as a Manhattan student. “He kept the students’ attention and was conversational rather than reading from a stack of notes.” During the early 1970s, when the College became coeducational, Dr. Rosemary Farley remembers Taylor as someone who
encouraged her to explore a statistics career. Farley, who is now an associate professor of mathematics and computer science at Manhattan College, took Taylor’s statistics classes as a student at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. She says Taylor groomed her to teach his statistics courses before he retired. “He was so magnanimous in helping me to step into his shoes,” Farley says. “It’s that whole Lasallian tradition of pushing people to excel, and we did excel under his tutelage.” Taylor brought together colleagues in the mathematics department and always listened to new ideas. He was known as the go-to person for faculty members who needed to do statistical analysis for their research. “You could count on him to give a good introduction to a talk or get people to work together,” says Dr. John McCabe, associate professor of mathematics and computer science. From 1964-1972, his leadership qualities served him well as chairman of the mathematics department. During his time as chairman, he recognized the importance of expanding computer science and supported colleagues in their effort to become acquainted with the field. Taylor was born in the Bronx on June 15, 1925. He earned his B.A. from Manhattan College and his A.M. (1947) and Ph.D. (1959) from Columbia University. From 1944-46, he served in the U.S. Navy. In 1987, he was honored as the first recipient of Manhattan College’s Distinguished Lasallian Educator Award.
obits
Francis Taylor
Frank Flood Frank B. Flood ’52, M.D., former physician to the Christian Brothers, died on Jan. 10, 2008. He was 77. Raised in Forest Hills, N.Y., Flood graduated from Manhattan College’s school of arts and science before earning his medical degree from the Cornell University School of Medicine/New York Hospital and completing an internship/residency in cardiology at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan. While a medical student, he met his beloved wife, Noreen Healy, who was a registered nurse, teacher and psychologist. The two married on June 9, 1956 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Flood served in the U.S. Army as a captain and director of medical services for troops stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, from 1957 to 1959 and was awarded the U.S. Army Medal for Meritorious Service. A well-regarded doctor, Flood was a professor of medicine at New York Medical College and invented cardiology-related devices, including a revolutionary dual pacemaker/defibrillator. He also wrote the Medical Resident’s Manual and the Army Manual for Emergency Medicine, and his research was published in many professional journals. Flood was an attending physician at Saint Vincent’s Hospital prior to becoming director of medicine and chief of cardiology at Saint Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers from 1962-1979. He also was a longtime physician to both the Christian Brothers and Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph, and revered the Brothers. “My father had a tremendous reverence for the Brothers,” says son Michael Flood ’85, Esq. “He showed it not only through words but as the Brothers themselves taught him, through his actions.” And the Brothers esteemed him. They honored their doctor by making him an affiliate member of the Lasallian Christian Brothers in 1978. “To be honored as an affiliate member of the Brothers was a
high point of his life,” Michael says. “In a profoundly significant way, the Brothers helped make him the person he was. As he told me not too long ago, the Brothers were his ‘heroes.’” Brother Francis Bowers, former provost, dean and associate professor emeritus of English, knew Flood for many years and explains that an appointment with him wasn’t like a typical visit to the doctor. He was genuinely interested in the Brothers and would always take time to talk to them. “I admired him as a professional man,” Br. Bowers says. “He was untiring and compassionate.” In addition to his dedication to the Brothers, Flood remained devoted to his alma mater. He sent all six of his children to Manhattan, and even his wife earned a degree from the College. Throughout his distinguished career, he had many great experiences, but there was one that stood out. In the 1960s, Flood diagnosed one of his patients with a rare and previously incurable brain disorder. After placing a relic of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton on the patient, the Sisters of Charity in the New York community prayed to Mother Seton for his recovery. The patient recovered shortly thereafter. He certified that the recuperation could not be explained medically, and the Vatican declared the patient’s recovery miraculous. It was the third and final miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Seton and allowed her to be canonized a saint. Flood and his family attended the canonization ceremonies officiated by Pope Paul VI in Rome in 1975. He kept a private practice in cardiology and internal medicine before retiring to Vero Beach, Fla. Predeceased by his wife in 2002, Flood is survived by his six children: sons Timothy ’80, Michael ’85, Patrick ’85, and daughters Maura Flood ’90, Deirdre Hackeling ’81, Noreen Whitty ’85; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and his sister Joan.
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