Richard "Dick" Blackburn Taylor was a prominent businessman in Las Vegas, Nevada and amateur historian of Southern Nevada. Taylor was born on January 31, 1929 in Quincy, Illinois and grew up in Glendale, California. After graduating high school in 1947, he attended Washington and Lee University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Hawaii. He served in the 4th Infantry Division of the United States Army in Germany during the occupation following WWII. In 1957, he married Charlene Flora Belknap and they had four children.