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Marcia Zarley Taylor of Sag Harbor, formerly of Haddonfield, New Jersey, died on February 19, 2017, from breast cancer. She was 61.
Ms. Taylor was born March 10, 1955, in Des Moines, Iowa. She was an internationally recognized agribusiness journalist. She was executive editor of DTN/Progressive Farmer and previously worked as an editor for Farm Journal and Successful Farming magazines. She was a former president of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association and was set to become North American Agricultural Journalists Association’s new president this spring.
She graduated summa cum laude in 1977 from Iowa State University with degrees in journalism and agronomy, and during her 40-year career she won nearly every agribusiness award for news, feature, and editorial writing, including the AAEA Oscar in Agriculture, AAEA Writer of the Year, and two-time NAAJ Glen Cunningham Writer of the Year.
She was the first American journalist to venture into the wilds of Brazil in the 1990s to report on farmers, both Brazilian and American, who were challenging America’s position as the world leader in commodity grain production.
Survivors described her as a loving wife, beloved aunt, avid gardener, reader, traveler, and active in her parish and women’s education.
She is survived by her husband, John; sisters, Debbie Beres and Lori Lawson and their husbands James Beres and Dave Lawson; brother Craig Zarley and wife Debra Durchslag; sister-in-law Mary Manley and husband Patrick Manley; brothers-in-law, James Taylor and Herb Taylor and former spouse Jina Taylor; and three nieces and five nephews.
She was predeceased by her father, Guy Zarley, and her mother, Marjorie Zarley Wallace.
Services were held February 24 in Southampton. Memorial services will be held in the spring in Philadelphia and the Midwest.
Memorial donations may be made to the P.E.O. Program for Continuing Education (PCE), Old St. Joseph’s Historic Preservation Corporation (Philadelphia, PA), the Sag Harbor Partnership, or another charity of your choice.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the O’Connell Funeral Home in Southampton.
on Feb 28, 2017