Died, October 16, 1903, age 83, of "apoplexy" or cerebral hemorrhage. Cemetery records say cause of death was "paralysis," which disagrees with all obituaries. This photo was a "candid" picture of Dr. Taft at a professional meeting in the 1890s.

At the age of 83, Dr. Taft was still actively attending professional meetings, traveling and speaking, and still publishing in the professional literature. He maintained throughout his life and career a passion for ethics and advancement of the profession, publishing often his views on the public duties which attend on the professional career of a dentist. Indeed, at a meeting in April of the same year, he commented on the importance of dentists working closely with physicians and public health officers to prevent the spread of disease through instruction and care of children in the public schools.
Taft's comments followed this article: Fall, Delos. Dental Instruction in the Public Schools. Dental Register LVII(5) May 15, 1903:217-223(225).

Dr. Taft was known to be perhaps the single most professionally active member of the profession, and universally well liked and highly regarded. Some small evidence of this can be seen from his founding several associations which are still important today and having served as President of both the ADA and NADF (now ADEA), in additional to serving in leadership roles in innumerable other professional organizations. His obituary was published in at least twenty-three different dental journals, ranging from regional and national to international, clearly showing his importance to the profession. Dr. Taft "was said to be a member of every important dental society, and probably attended and participated in more meetings than any other one man."
The Passing of a Great Man. Dental Digest 9 (1903):1287-1290.
Dalton, Van B. The Genesis of Dental Education in the United States, p. 197.