Here's Looking at You
Taylor Rau Lives On

Through a many late night and weekend marathon working side by side, I came to know him well.
    When you share the responsibility of planning, writing and editing a national magazine such as Nightclub & Bar as I did with the late John Taylor Rau for more than six years — first as editor myself and Taylor as staff writer and associate editor, and then myself as executive editor with Taylor in the editor’s chair himself — it is difficult not to know someone down to their favorite sport and their most closely held dream.
    Taylor loved to play golf, and one day he had hoped to have his own bar and thus come full circle in the hospitality business that no one knew better than he did.
Remembering the Laughter
    As much as it hurts for me and many others to lose someone who was that special, a fellow traveler, at only 27, the pain of the loss even now is tempered with the memory of his laughter, his clever banter back and forth via e-mail, his grace under pressure that was an inspiration
to all.
    When we met, the young man I came to know was fresh out of the University of Mississippi, where he had just earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. You just knew that he had a brilliant career and life ahead of him. Even then, he was full of ideas and enthusiasm for life, his work in magazine publishing — not to mention his other major life responsibility of remaining close to his father and mother, John and Lynn Rau, his brother Dan and his autistic sister Leslie, with whom he had a special gift for communicating.

Touching Lives
    It was routine duty for Taylor to pull all-nighters in the days leading up to a deadline. As far as he was concerned, it all came with the territory, as did taking on additional story assignments and responsibilities as circumstances warranted. Whether he was writing, editing, interviewing a bar or club owner, or profiling a spirits company — being from Tennessee, Taylor had a special affinity for Jack Daniels — you just knew that the task was going to be completed cheerfully and to everyone’s satisfaction.
    At the end of a long day, and on his occasional days off, Taylor liked to visit his favorite watering holes around Oxford, Miss., where the magazine is headquartered, and be with his friends. Sometimes he would entertain guests at home, and if you were lucky enough to be friends with Taylor outside the office, as I was, you always knew that an invitation to his house meant sparkling conversation and a late night of too much fun.
    Now, rather than mourn him and wish that he was still with us, I choose to remember that he was here, and that he touched the lives of family, friends, co-workers as well as thousands of readers through the pages of the magazine in a positive way that can never be forgotten. I know that I will never, ever forget him.
Here’s looking at you, Taylor.

Those wishing to honor the life of Taylor Rau may make donations to the Memorial Fund of Taylor Rau, c/o First Tennessee Bank, 1214 Murfreesboro Road, Suite 100, Franklin, TN 37064.