Zara Buggs Taylor, 59; Sought Jobs for Minorities in Media

Zara Buggs Taylor, who spent two decades trying to increase employment opportunities for minorities, women and the disabled in Hollywood and also pushed for their balanced portrayal in television and film, has died. She was 59.

Taylor, who had battled the autoimmune disease scleroderma for four years, died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center, according to the Writers Guild of America, West, where she had worked for 11 years.

“Zara was a vocal advocate for writers of all ages, genders, colors, shapes and sizes. She literally was a force to be reckoned with,” Patric M. Verrone, president of the guild’s western division, said in a statement.

Until retiring earlier this year, Taylor was director of the guild’s employment access department.

Previously, she had spent a decade with the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, where she helped create the Media Image Coalition, which has been working since 1989 to give minorities more opportunities in the media.

Born March 28, 1946, in Ocala, Fla., Taylor moved to Los Angeles in the early 1950s.

She was inspired to work for civil rights by her father, John Allen Buggs, a prominent peacemaker after the 1965 Watts riots who served three presidents as director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

Taylor received a bachelor’s degree from Spelman College in Atlanta and a master’s degree in public administration from Cal State Los Angeles. She was also a graduate of Loyola Law School.

Her mother, Mary Gale Buggs, died in September.

Among Taylor’s survivors are her husband, William Roscoe Taylor III of Los Angeles; a son, William Roscoe Taylor IV; and a sister, Dianne Buggs Dix.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church, 801 E. 28th St., Los Angeles.