Jack Taylor Receives St. Louis Award at Ceremony Hosted by Danforth Center
Jack S. Taylor was honored as the 69th recipient of the St. Louis Award in a ceremony held at the Danforth Center on November 15, 2008. St. Louis Award Committee President (and Danforth Center Board Member) David Kemper welcomed many previous award recipients, members of the Taylor family, representatives of state and local government, and other special guests to celebrate Jack Taylor's accomplishments.
A Bit of Background on the St. Louis Award
The St. Louis Award was established in 1931 by Mr. David P. Wohl, a wise and generous citizen of St. Louis. He insisted throughout his lifetime that his connection with the Award remain a secret.
In Mr. Wohl’s own words, the honor of the St. Louis Award is reserved for “the resident of metropolitan St. Louis who, during the preceding year, has contributed the most outstanding service for the city’s development…or (who) shall have performed such service as to bring greatest honor to the community.” By highlighting significant contributions from residents of St. Louis, Mr. Wohl hoped to stimulate deeper interest in community affairs and to foster a greater pride in the city he loved.
The early 1930’s saw the depths of the Great Depression. Civic pride was at a low ebb. Jobs were scarce. Some had too little to eat. Some even wondered about the nation’s survival. Against this background, the St. Louis Award was announced. It was and still is “a shot in the civic arm”, a symbolic celebration of the power of a single individual to generate excitement and hope.
Excerpts from David Kemper's Remarks Introducing Jack Taylor
Jack Taylor is truly a booster of St. Louis. We are all aware of the many contributions he has made to our quality of life, including his $40 million challenge grant to the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra to help secure its endowment fund, and his $8 million in contributions to restoring Forest Park to its original grandeur and maintaining it. The causes he has chosen to support are based on his love of St. Louis. He has a sentimental attachment to each one. He remembers attending Thursday afternoon concerts at the Symphony as a school boy and believes a first class city needs a first class symphony. He grew up in the shadow of Forest Park and remembers going on boat rides on Post Dispatch Lake.
As a third generation St. Louisan, Jack raised his family here and has grown his business here. Jack founded Enterprise Rent-A-Car (then called Executive Leasing) in the basement of Lindburg Cadillac in 1957, with a fleet of seven vehicles. Today, Enterprise is the industry leader, and the largest privately-held company in St. Louis with more than $9.5 billion in revenue.
With its headquarters in St. Louis, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has transferred employees from all over the world to work here, and Jack enjoys sharing St. Louis’ virtues with them. After they’ve been here awhile, he likes to follow up with them to see what their impressions are. He inevitably hears them say things like: “We really like St. Louis.” “We can’t believe how friendly people treat us.” “You can get anywhere in 20 minutes!” (That was before the new I-64 construction began, Jack!) “There is so much to do here and it is accessible.” These comments reinforce his belief that St. Louis is a first class city and we need to keep it that way.
Jack looks at his charitable giving as an investment in the community and the return on that investment is a better place for all of us to live and work. For example, he established the Enterprise Scholars program at Washington University because he wants to see young, energetic, smart people who come to St. Louis, stay in St. Louis.
As we know, the St. Louis Award was started by David Wohl to celebrate specific contributions individuals have made to the St. Louis community in the past year. So, while Jack Taylor certainly is deserving of accolades for his many contributions over his lifetime here, today we are recognizing Jack for his contribution to St. Louis’ dream of being a center for plant and life sciences and on the cutting edge of sustainable ecological advances.
Jack has long been interested in the environment. Several years ago he visited with Peter Raven to see how he could contribute to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s interest in world ecology. The result was a $30MM gift to the Garden to fund worldwide plant research. He’s also encouraged Enterprise Rent-A-Car to think green. Currently 41,000 Enterprise vehicles throughout the country are FlexFuel, a blend of 85% ethanol produced from corn and 15% gasoline. And, in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Enterprise, the company agreed to underwrite the planting of 50 million trees in national forests over the next 50 years—at a total cost of $50 million in today’s dollars!
Jack likes to say he backs smart people who have great ideas and then gets out of their way so they can do what they do best. His recent gift to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is certainly an example of that. Jack has long been a fan of Bill Danforth who introduced him to the work of the Danforth Plant Science Center and Dr. Roger Beachy. This year, Jack Taylor gave $25 million to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to create the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels. This Institute not only brings recognition to St. Louis as a hub city for biotechnology research, it sets the stage for significant opportunities to find alternatives to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels.
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