TORONTO—Family, friends, and dignitaries that included prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau and one of his predecessors, Joe Clark, paid tribute on Oct. 27 to Ken Taylor, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran who garnered international fame for helping six Americans escape the country during the 1979 hostage crisis.
The ceremony, kept light in accordance with Taylor’s wishes, heard him described as a fun-loving, generous man with a taste for fine brandy and a fierce loyalty to his friends.
“My grandfather was simply a legend,” granddaughter Kassia told those gathered in the large mid-town Timothy Eaton Memorial Church.
Taylor, 81, died on Oct. 15 in New York after being diagnosed in August with colon cancer, his wife Pat by his side.
Clark, who authorized the November 1979 mission that saved the Americans from an Iranian mob that had stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, said Taylor’s courage earned the admiration of people around the world.
“Yet, it was a very Canadian thing to do,” Clark said, adding that Taylor had an “instinct to be gracious.”
Taylor hid the Americans at his residence and at the home of his deputy in Tehran for three months. He persuaded Ottawa to issue them Canadian passports and arranged their plane tickets.
