June 19, 1997

Taff, Former Atlantic Coast Conference President, Dies at 81

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Charles A. Taff, 81, former President of the Atlantic Coast Conference, professor emeritus and a former chairperson of the Business Administration Department at the University of Maryland died of congestive heart failure May 23 at his home in Hyattsville.

Dr. Taff was a past President of the ACC and served the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at Maryland as its Faculty Representative. He was chairman of the Athletic Council at Maryland for five years.

Taff, a specialist in transportation and physical distribution, wrote four books on those subjects and taught at Maryland for more than 40 years. he was the department chairman from 1962 to 1973. He retired in 1988, but continued teaching until 1994.

He was editor for 15 years of the Transportation Journal and was the transportation consultant to the Council of economic advisors under three presidents. He helped prepare the first presidential transportation message to Congress, delivered by president John F. Kennedy shortly before the creation of the Department of Transportation.

Dr. Taff was born in Hoisington, Kansas, and raised in Lamoni, Iowa. He was a graduate of the University of Iowa, where he also received a master¹s degree in business. He received a doctorate in economics and transportation for the University of Maryland. He served in the Navy in the Pacific, preparing for the Battle of Tarawa.

He taught at Virginia Tech and Kent State before moving to the Washington area in 1949.

Dr. Taff was a consultant to the Defense, Transportation and Commerce Departments. He represented the United State on the American Canadian Tolls Committee for the St. Lawrence Seaway. He was named Transportation Man of the Year in the 1970s by the Defense Transportation Association and the American Society of Traffic and Transportation.

Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Glatha Taff of Hyattsville; three children, William Taff of Los Angeles, Rosemary Blunck of Hyattsville and Barbara Taff of Washington; and four grandchildren.