PASSINGS

The Rev. John Randolph Taylor, 72, architect of the reunification of northern and southern Presbyterian denominations in 1983, died Friday at his home in Black Mountain, N.C., after suffering from multiple myeloma and kidney failure.

Taylor was a key leader on the committee working to reunify the branches into what is now the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and was elected moderator of the reunified denomination’s General Assembly after the merger. He spent the next year touring the country, working to strengthen ties in the new denomination.

After that duty, he served as president of San Francisco Theological Seminary from 1985 until his retirement in 1994. Earlier, Taylor was a pastor of congregations in Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, and participated in the civil rights movement.

He was a fifth-generation minister and son of missionaries to China.