Nationality American Name Jack Taylor Occupation Entrepreneur Role Businessman | Years of service 1942–1945 Parents Melburne Martling Taylor | |
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Spouse(s) Mary Ann Taylor (divorced) Children Andrew C. Taylor, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle Organizations founded Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Enterprise Holdings, Enterprise Car Sales Similar People Andrew C Taylor, Jacqueline Mars, Birgit Rausing | ||
Net worth 12.8 billion USD (2015) | ||
Jack c taylor dead at age 94 billionaire and businessman dead rip
Jack Crawford Taylor (April 14, 1922 – July 2, 2016) was an American businessman and billionaire who founded the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company.
Contents
- Jack c taylor dead at age 94 billionaire and businessman dead rip
- Early life and education
- Career
- Philanthropy
- Personal life
- References
Early life and education
Taylor was the elder of two sons born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Melburne Martling Taylor and Dorothy Crawford Taylor. Taylor enrolled in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis in 1940. He left school to join the U.S. Navy. During World War II, he piloted an F6F Hellcat fighter from the decks of the USS Essex (CV-9) and the USS Enterprise (CV-6) earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Navy Air Medal.
Career
After the war, he returned to St. Louis and started a delivery service company. In 1948, he took a job at the Lindburg Cadillac dealership where he eventually became a sales manager. In 1957, he started a car leasing business at the dealership in partnership with his employer, Arthur R. Lindburg, which required that he take a 50 percent pay cut and put up $25,000 for a 25% interest in the business. Targeting people whose cars were in the shop, the Executive Leasing Company began operation with a total of seven cars.
In 1969, Jack expanded outside Saint Louis and changed the name of the company to Enterprise (named after the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier upon which he had served in World War II). Unlike his competitors, who focused on business rentals at airports, Taylor concentrated on the hometown market offering home pickup services which led to Enterprise’s “We’ll Pick You Up” slogan. By 1980, the rental fleet had grown to 6,000 cars. In 1989, the fleet had grown to 50,000 and he changed the name of the company to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. By 1992, Enterprise surpassed $1 billion in revenues and by 1995, it reached $2 billion in revenues. In 2007, Enterprise purchased National Car Rental and Alamo Rent-A-Car. The current executive chairman is Taylor's son, Andrew C. Taylor.
Taylor's business credo was: “Take care of your customers and employees first, and profits will follow.”
Philanthropy
Personal life
Taylor was married to Mary Ann Taylor. Unfortunately, the marriage ended in a divorce. They had two children, Andrew C. Taylor, who is the executive chairman of Enterprise, and Jo Ann Taylor, who runs the Taylor family philanthropic activities. He died on July 2, 2016 in St. Louis at the age of 94.