UNCP Trustee Richard “Dick” Taylor of Lumberton, N.C. has been voted to serve a four-year term on the 32-member University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
Taylor was nominated by state Rep. G.L. Pridgen, a Republican from Lumberton, and on Tuesday the House of Representatives approved his nomination along with seven others. The longtime Lumberton businessman was completing his second four-year term on UNCP’s board as an appointee of the Board of Governors.
Taylor will be Robeson County’s lone representative on the Board of Governors. Dr. Cheryl Locklear of Pembroke, whose term was expiring on June 30, resigned earlier in March. UNCP Chancellor Kyle R. Carter thanked both for their service to UNCP and the state.
“Dick Taylor is an outstanding choice for the Board of Governors,” Chancellor Carter said. “His service to our university and his dedication to higher education in North Carolina are exemplary.
“I want to convey my deepest thanks to Dr. Cheryl Locklear for her work on the board,” he said. “The dedicated support of great individuals like Dr. Locklear is what makes UNCP and all its constituent institutions the greatest state-supported university system in the U.S.”
Taylor is a well-known businessman in the Lumberton community with an insurance business and real estate interests. He is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and a member of its Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Taylor, who will take office after July 1, said he is looking forward to serving on the Board of Governors. “I will do the best I can at whatever they ask me to do. I just want to get in there and do a good job.
“I want to represent UNCP if I can,” he continued. “It was a great honor to serve on UNCP’s Board of Trustees, and I am very proud of the university.”
Taylor was known as a dedicated trustee who attended countless university functions.
“That was very important to me,” Taylor said. “I feel very strongly that if you are asked to serve, you should do your best to serve.”
Taylor was elected in 2011 to the Robeson County Sports Hall of Fame, and in the nomination, his philanthropy was highlighted. The Dick and Lenore Taylor Track at UNCP is named in his honor and for his support of the university.
A 1950 UNC graduate, Taylor was an All-American in track and was recently inducted into the Penn Relays Hall of Fame.