Sarah Taylor-Rodgers, the former acting director of what is now the University of Maryland’s Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology in Queenstown, died on June 23 at her home in the Otterbein neighborhood of Baltimore. She was 73 years old and had suffered from melanoma.
Dr. Taylor-Rodgers grew up in Prospect Park, Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania, where she majored in political science. She held a master’s degree in public administration and her Ph.D. from Syracuse University.
Dt. Taylor-Rodgers began her career with the Amry Corps of Engineers. In 1979, she was appointed director of the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Program. She was the first woman to hold the position. She then spent a decade as executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission.
In 1994. Dr. Taylor Rogers was appointed assistant secretary of the Resource Management Service of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. In 1999, she became the first woman Secretary for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
In March 2004, Dr. Taylor-Rogers became the assistant director of the Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology. After 10 years she was appointed acting director of the Center until her retirement in March 2017.