WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- John Taylor, a 63-year employee of the U.S. National Archives who specialized in World War II and post-war intelligence records, has died at 87.
Taylor began working at the archives in September 1945, the week Japan surrendered. He was still working there last week.
He died Saturday at his home in Washington.
Taylor assisted everyone from best-selling writers to college students. He was honored by the Office of Strategic Services in 2006 for his work on the records of the World War II precursor of the CIA and by the Japanese Embassy in 1997 for his assistance to Japanese researchers.
"John Taylor was the first person I met at the National Archives many years ago while searching for a dissertation topic," said Allen Weinstein, the archivist of the United States. "With me, as with everyone, Mr. Taylor was generous with his time and with his ideas. His distinguished career brought honor to the dogged research enterprise which the Archives embodies. He is irreplaceable, of course, and he will be sorely missed."
Taylor was predeceased by his wife Dolly.
