Nancy Ann (Adams) Taylor

Nancy Ann (Adams) Taylor, age 84, died Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at Coastal Carolina Medical Center in Hardeeville, SC. Mrs. Taylor was born on July 10, 1931 in Bethlehem, PA, the daughter of the late Rolland LeRoy Adams and Pauline (Hombach) Adams. She attended National Cathedral School in Washington, DC for her senior year of high school. She graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, MA where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree. She worked in a research lab at Cornell Medical College in NYC. In 1963, Ann, her two sisters and their three husbands formed the 2nd generation of ownership of ABARTA, Inc., a company founded by her father Rolland Adams; the 2nd generation owners grew the company to include two newspapers, four Coca-Cola Bottling franchises, and an oil and gas company. In 1986 she assumed the role of Publisher of Bethlehem Globe-Times, succeeding her former husband, Donald S. Taylor. In 1987 she served as Chairman of the Board of ABARTA, Inc. until her retirement in July 1995. Throughout her adult life, Ann was very active in the Bethlehem community where she had been born and lived most of her life. Ann was a Life Trustee of Moravian College; a de Tocqueville Society member of the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley; and a longtime supporter of the Bethlehem Public Library. Ann served on the Boards of Moravian College, Northampton Community College and St. Luke’s Hospital. Ann sang in the Lehigh University Choral Union. After her family, Ann’s greatest loves were worldwide travel (she had proudly traveled to all seven continents); animals, especially horses and dogs; singing; and the island of Martha’s Vineyard where she had a home and helped to preserve the island’s natural beauty for generations to come by donating land to the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. Mrs. Taylor was predeceased by her sister, Mimi (Adams) Bitzer. She is survived by her sister, Marcia (Adams) Roehr of Lincoln, MA; daughter, Mary Romero Hudson of St. Helena Island, SC; son, James Adams Taylor of Pittsburgh, PA; five grandchildren; brother-in-law, John F. Bitzer, Jr. and many nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association and Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation.