Alan was a loving husband, father and brother to our entire family. He passed on January 31, 2024 at the age of 70. He and his family had recently moved to North Carolina and he unexpectedly passed while in the hospital.

Alan (Al) was born in Milton, Massachusetts to J. Earl and Marguerite Tays. He was the youngest of 4 brothers; Stuart George, Robert (Bobby) Earl, and Gerald (Gerry) Wilson Tays. Bobby was to pass a mere 7 months after Alan’s birth. With the brothers having gone away to school, Alan grew up essentially as a single child. Like his brothers, Al spent much of his time pursuing sports in a 600-acre private park literally across the street, focusing on football, hockey and baseball -- sports he continued to play at Milton High School.

Al attended college at Northeastern University in Boston in a program that was designed to give the students a 4-year education in 5 years. The secret to its success lay in the opportunity to get practical, on-the-job training during a specific period of time alternating with classroom learning. When the students graduated, they had a 4-year degree and job experience that most often resulted in a full-time job. In Al’s case, he studied at Northeastern while working at the Quincy Patriot Ledger where he went on to work and later joined the Sports Staff at The Boston Globe. He had hit the big time soon after leaving Northeastern.

Al’s other assignments included the Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and the Palm Beach Post. He left newspaper journalism and took on the Editor’s role at Golf World magazine headquartered in New York City. A stint in e-journalism took him to L.A. where he worked for Fox Sports. Ultimately, he was hired into what he considered the ultimate assignment as an on-line editor for Golf Channel in Orlando. He loved his business and worked tirelessly to produce award-winning news and feature articles. He always knew what he wanted to do because he was avid reader and was thoroughly passionate about sports.

Al and I met through friends at the Sun Sentinel newspaper in Ft. Lauderdale in 1978. From the beginning, we were very good friends and became best friends. Sometimes you're lucky to find someone you feel close to but it's beyond luck to find someone you intersect with. Al and I fit together even though we sometimes had different interests and worked around different time frames. When he was offered an opportunity to work for his hometown paper, the Boston Globe, he went for it. He invited me to come and while we were in Massachusetts, we decided it was time to marry.

Alex came to our family after 8 years of marriage. Al was so delighted to have his children and never imposed his love of sports on them. He just provided them every opportunity to learn and enjoy from sports and life in general. Alex and he shared many moments when he was young reading and tinkering with Legos. Al tried valiantly to learn about the anime card games his son enjoyed so much but came away encouraging Alex even if it he really didn’t understand the games. Alex noticed this and felt touched that Alan had worked so hard to share this with him. Al was a devoted New England Patriots and Tom Brady fan. For a milestone birthday, he and Alex were able to go to New England and see live one of the best Patriots/Brady games. Al kept a picture of them at the game as his cover shot for his Facebook page.

Alex said he was so pleased to have had the last 9 months to be able to spend such concentrated time with his father as we all had agreed to help each other this past year by moving in together. Spending time daily with each other as adults brought more depth and understanding to their relationship that they never expected but were so happy they were able to experience.

With our new living arrangements, Al also got to live with a pet again, our son's English Pointer, Ruger. He would greet Al, like he does with all of us, with wagging tail and a lot sniffing. I didn't realize just how much Al missed having a pet around to love after our pet cockatiel and his ultimate companion, Pumpkin, passed away several years ago. They were inseparable and only when he had a loving pet like Ruger and Shadow (our daughter and son-in-law’s dog), did I see how much that part of his life he missed. We are all grateful he was able to experience this love again through both of his Granddogs.

Cori has always been close to her father. They shared a deep love for animation. They would have great times reminiscing about so many cartoons from the past with quotes and anecdotes they had shared when she was a child. A favorite picture of the two of them giving each other a kiss when she about 4 was one of Al's prized possessions. Al was very supportive of her interest in voice acting especially in regards to animation which helped fuel her to go after this goal.

Cori's marriage to Jake was one of great happiness for Alan. Al had always supported Jake's inclusion of the family and expressed how much he enjoyed his company. We are all so glad we had the opportunity to be together at their home in Austin this past December. He was able to witness the peace they both felt being in their new home with their sweet goldendoodle, Shadow.

His experiences with his family, friends and work gave him such joy. He missed aspects of working after retiring mainly because he missed his friends. He greatly enjoyed getting to know his coworkers and developing life-long friendships with many.

Alan was a such a joy to be around. His kindness knew no bounds. He always tried to put on a happy disposition even when he was extremely tired and drained from his many health concerns. I have always been and always will be inspired by him and miss his presence daily.

Alan was patient and thorough, amazingly funny and loved more than he could ever know. We feel extremely lucky to have had him with us for as long as we did. We will love and miss him every day.

Al is survived by his wife of 43 years, Vicki, son Alexander, daughter Cori, son-in-law Jake Mercer and brother and sisters-in-law Gerry, Nancy and Sandy Tays, in-laws Eric and Doreen Lambert, Kathy and Randy Shreve and their families. A memorial service will be announced in the future.

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