On October 31, 2026, the Lord welcomed home Ronald Taylor, faithful servant and former Executive Director for International Ministries.  

Ron and his wife Norma began their time with IM in 1968, when they were commissioned to serve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They sailed on July 3, 1969 for the city of Kimpese. For eleven years Ron taught math and physics at Kimpese Evangelical Training Institute, a school jointly founded by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and the British Baptist Missionary Society to train pastors and church leaders. In 1979 the family returned to the United States, and Ron began serving as gifts and annuities officer before becoming Executive Director of International Ministries in 1983.  

Under Ron’s leadership between 1983 and 1989, IM established partnerships with Baptists in the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Italy, and Rwanda.  In 1986 Ron joined more than 100 national religious leaders in endorsing a letter to Congress protesting the US military’s involvement in Nicaragua. The full statement, entitled “In the Name of God—Stop the Lies—Stop the Killing,” and it’s list of signatories was read into the official Congressional Record in the House of Representatives chamber on March 6, 1986. 

After his time with IM, Ron became Director of Development for the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia and continued to serve after retirement as an elder in the Presbyterian Church. In retirement, he and his wife lived for a number of years in New Jersey, where Ron enjoyed surf fishing on the Jersey shore. In 2022 they moved to Winchester, Massachusetts. 

Ron was born in La Fontaine, Indiana and graduated from Purdue University with a degree in aeronautical engineering. Beginning in 1959, Ron worked for General Dynamics in San Diego, California as an aeronautical engineer on the Appollo space program and early space shuttle designs. It was at First Baptist Church of Clairemont in San Diego that Ron experienced and accepted a call to global mission. 

In his application for missionary service, Ron wrote: “My purpose in life is to serve God and do what I can to aid in the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.  As a teacher this takes the form of the ministry of knowledge; knowledge conveyed in the name of God and for His glory; knowledge which can be used to provide more abundant life, spiritually, physically and intellectually.” Ron described a call to social justice and his desire that people, regardless of national or racial differences, be joined together by the love of God. 

Ron is survived by his wife, Betty; his sister, Phyllis Steidle; his son, Terry Taylor, (Sylvia); his daughters, Judy Denning (Charlie) and Brenda Galliher (Steve); their mother, Norma DeBenedictis;  his stepchildren, Aaron Johnson (Kathryn), and Amanda Hutson (John); fourteen grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. 

A memorial service will be held on Friday, November 20 at 11:00 a.m. at Winchester Congregational Church in Winchester, Massachusetts.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to American Baptist International Ministries, in honor of Ron’s lifelong commitment to Christian service.