Microbiologist Patricia Taylor helped American diplomats evade capture in Iran in the Canadian Caper

Patricia Taylor was a microbiologist who worked on important research in fields such as vaccines and AIDS, and who as a young woman became an accomplished ballerina and musician. She was also married to the famous Canadian diplomat, Ken Taylor, and helped him when six American diplomats were hidden and then spirited out of Iran in 1980 in what became known as the Canadian Caper. Dr. Taylor died on Sept. 9 at a retirement home in Ottawa. She was 95.She was born Patricia Lee was born in Ayr, Australia, on March 20, 1929, one of 11 children of Chinese immigrants Ernest Howard Lee Hang Gong and Mayzie Kwong Sue Duk. The family ran a grocery store where Patricia worked as a young woman.