Jeri Taylor, co-creator of Star Trek: Voyager, has died. Her son, Andrew Enberg, confirmed her death to The Hollywood Reporter. Taylor died Wednesday at the assisted living facility where she resided. She was 86.
“My mother succeeded in a male-dominated industry, but she did it without being super aggressive,” Enberg told the Reporter. “She did it with compassion and kindness. She was like a den mother to everyone.”
Taylor’s journey to the far reaches of space where no human had gone before began in Evansville, Indiana. Born in 1938 to a family of six children, Taylor stayed in the Hoosier State through college, attending Indiana University, but headed west for Cal State Northridge, where she received her master’s. While in California, Taylor led an acting workshop before turning to screenwriting and finding success on television staples of the era. With credits on The Incredible Hulk, Little House On The Prairie, and Quincy, M.E., of which she directed an episode, Taylor continued to move up the television ladder.
After over a decade in the business, Taylor had a “track record as a writer, primarily, of character, people, relationships, and feelings” when a colleague from Quincy recommended she rewrite the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Suddenly Human.” On the success of that script, she joined the U.S.S. Enterprise as a writer, penning the first half of “Unification,” which saw Spock’s return to the series, and the fan-favorite installment, “The Drumhead,” the episode Taylor was most proud of. Taylor continued working for TNG throughout the remainder of the show’s run and was promoted to showrunner for the show’s Emmy-nominated final season.
“Jeri brought humanity and compassion to her work and to Star Trek. Her scripts include ‘The Drumhead’ (TNG), which remains one of Star Trek’s most powerful hours,” wrote Star Trek designer Michael Okuda on Instagram. “Working for Jeri Taylor was always a delight. She always welcomed ideas and suggestions, even from designers in the art department. She was thoughtful and warm, and she always made us feel like we were an important part of her team.”
During the final season of The Next Generation, she and producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller began developing Voyager. The show was groundbreaking for the series and television, introducing the first female captain into the franchise. Led by the unflappable Kate Mulgrew, Voyager ran for four seasons, with Taylor taking over showrunner duties for the back half.
“Jeri Taylor was responsible, in large part, for changing my life,” Mulgrew wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “She was elegant, erudite, and fiercely opinionated. She wanted Kathryn Janeway to be a significant part of her legacy and I think there is no doubt that in that endeavor she succeeded.”
Taylor married twice. Her first marriage to Dick Enberg ended in divorce after 16 years. She had three children with Enberg, including Andrew, an actor who appeared on Voyager and The Next Generation as Ensign Vorik. The couple’s daughter, Jennifer Jo Enberg, died of ovarian cancer in 2015. Her second husband, David Moessinger, died in 2018. Taylor is survived by her two children and a step-child from her marriage to Moessinger.
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