Former House Speaker Casper Taylor leaves legacy of faith, service

Former Speaker of Maryland’s House of Delegates Casper R. Taylor Jr., a frequent supporter of Catholic legislative concerns in state government and a former member of the administrative board of the Maryland Catholic Conference, died April 24. He was 88.

One of the longest-serving Speakers of the House in Maryland history, the Western Maryland native held the powerful post from 1994 to 2003. He was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1974.

“Casper Taylor was a dedicated public servant who listened to the concerns of the Catholic community on a wide range of issues,” Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said. “I’m grateful for his work on the administrative board of the Maryland Catholic Conference and for his commitment to serving his constituents and all the people of Maryland with such generous devotion.”  

Richard J. Dowling, former executive director of the Annapolis-based Maryland Catholic Conference, called Taylor “a very special human being, a model Catholic legislator.”

“Everything you could want in a Catholic lawmaker, he was,” said Dowling, who led the state bishops’ legislative advocacy body for 24 years.

Dowling remembered Taylor as “an uncompromising advocate for people in need, a strong opponent of capital punishment, someone who understood and abided by the connection between faith and public policy.”

Mary Ellen Russell, who succeeded Dowling as executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference in 2008 before retiring several years ago, said she was “always amazed at his incredibly calm and humble demeanor.”

“He is, sadly, an example of an elected official we don’t see any more, who knew how to move things forward with incredible integrity and remain true to his principles and beliefs,” Russell said.

Prior to becoming leader of the Maryland Catholic Conference, Russell worked as the associate director for education and family life for the MCC. She and a network of supporters helped secure passage of state funding for nonreligious textbooks and other resources in nonpublic schools. The “truly historic change” happened with Taylor’s support, she said.

“Prior to that,” she said, “there was virtually no support for nonpublic schools except school bus transportation.”

Once that program began, “the walls came down. Now, in our day and age, the state provides significant funding for nonpublic school students, most especially through the BOOST (Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today) scholarship program for low-income students,” Russell said.

Taylor was also supportive on issues related to respect for life and help for those most in need. In a 2007 interview with the Catholic Review, he recalled how his position on the death penalty evolved over time.

If there’s one vote Taylor said he wished he could change, it was his 1978 vote as a delegate to reinstate the death penalty in Maryland.

“I think this is a question of always believing in that position (opposing capital punishment), but weighing when you’re in elective office in a republican democracy how much of your own conscience should supersede the wishes of your constituents,” Taylor said.

Once out of elective office, the former speaker became much more vocal about his opposition to the death penalty.

“I’m convinced that it serves no purpose,” Taylor told the Review. “It is clearly not our right to put people to death.”

As speaker, Taylor was a strong advocate for improving health care and public education. He helped win support for many projects to strengthen Allegany and Garrett counties, including Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort, and Canal Place in Cumberland.

He told the Review he was most proud of his “One Maryland” initiative. Designed to help struggling parts of the state, One Maryland provides tax credits for businesses that invest in places like Baltimore City, the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland.

Taylor was born in Cumberland, Dec. 19, 1934, the son of the late Casper R. Taylor Sr., and Zelma (McDermott) Taylor. He attended St. Michael School in Frostburg and was a 1952 graduate of the now-closed LaSalle High School. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana where he studied political science and served in the U.S. Air Force ROTC, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. 

A classical pianist, Taylor had dreamed of becoming a concert pianist as a teen. He was particularly fond of Chopin, according to the Catholic Review profile in 2007.

Taylor was the owner and operator of Cas Taylor’s restaurant and package goods store in Cumberland, which later became known as the Cumberland Hall of Fame Club.

The lawmaker’s legislative career came to an abrupt end after he supported legislation making Maryland the first state in the country to mandate trigger locks on new guns. He lost reelection by an extremely tight margin.

Recalling the gun vote after leaving office, Taylor told the Catholic Review he never regretted it even as many in his Western Maryland district opposed it. His opponents used it to paint him as a radical on gun control, he said, when the real issue was safety. 

“That legislation didn’t take one pistol away from anyone,” he said, emphasizing his long support for the constitutional right to bear arms.

Russell said Taylor’s loss showed her in a “devastating way” the “supreme importance of every person casting their vote in an election.”

When Taylor’s three-decade career in government was ended, the bishops of the Archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington and the Diocese of Wilmington. Del., invited him to serve on the administrative board of the MCC. He also served on Baltimore Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. That commission led to changes in the archdiocesan school system and the closure of several struggling schools.

In the 2007 interview with the Catholic Review, Taylor shared his belief that it is critical for Catholics to voice their concerns in Annapolis.

“It’s vitally important for all of the charity work that the Catholic Church does in the state of Maryland and all the work the Catholic Church does in the arena of education and healthcare and social welfare,” he said. “We all play an important role in establishing public policy.”

In January 2007, the new House of Delegates Office Building in Annapolis was named for Taylor, followed, in 2022, by the Baltimore Street Bridge in Cumberland being named after him, as well.

Taylor and his late wife, Mary Lenore “Polly” (Young) Taylor, were members of Our Lady of the Mountains Parish, Cumberland. He was also a member of the Knights of Columbus Cumberland Council 582, and the Order of Alhambra, Wamba Caravan 89, a Catholic fraternal and social association.

Taylor, who was preceded in death by his wife; his sister, Diane (Taylor) Thomas; and daughter-in-law, Linda M. Perrin Taylor; is survived by his sons, Dane E. Taylor and Brendan B. Taylor and wife, Carmen; five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and two brothers-in-law. Polly died in 2021.

A wake will be held in Scarpelli Funeral Homes, P.A., 108 Virginia Ave., Cumberland, April 28 from 4 to 7 p.m.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Mary in Cumberland April 29 at 1 p.m. Interment will follow in Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery.

George P. Matysek Jr. contributed to this story. 

Also see:

Former speaker laments ‘divisive’ political climate: Casper Taylor reflects on hard decisions

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