This article first apeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 1, 2012 - Paul Taylor, who, after a long, but ultimately valuable detour, joined Enterprise Holdings to help his brother build the nation’s largest vehicle rental business, died Tuesday (Sept. 25, 2012) at Missouri Baptist Medical Center following a brief illness. He was 88. Funeral services will be Friday, Oct. 5, at Ladue Chapel.
“He was one of my early mentors when I entered the business world,” said Mr. Taylor’s nephew, Andrew C. Taylor, chairman and chief executive officer of Enterprise Holdings, “and, over the years, he was a good friend and a continuing source of sound advice and support to my father and me.”
Andy Taylor’s father is Mr. Taylor’s brother, Jack C. Taylor, who founded Executive Leasing Co. (later Enterprise Leasing) in 1957 in the basement of yesteryear’s Forrest Cadillac dealership.
The car sales authority
Mr. Taylor had an automotive career that spanned more than five decades.
He worked for a time at Lindburg Cadillac in St. Louis before becoming the manager of a dealer group in Tucson, Ariz. He moved on to become president and general manager of a Ford Motor Co. dealership in San Francisco, then the largest Lincoln-Mercury franchise in the country.
He founded and owned a related company, RLM Leasing. Then he decided to come home.
In 1981, Mr. Taylor returned to St. Louis to join his brother’s thriving business, by then known as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, bringing his formidable expertise in the retail car sales business with him. He became a vice president at the company, which was begun with seven cars.
During his absence, the company had grown to a fleet of 6,000 rental vehicles.
Mr. Taylor’s extensive background in car sales aided Enterprise’s continued expansion and helped usher the company into a new phase.
“Paul introduced us to our first acquisitions,” said Don Ross, Enterprise’s vice chairman. “He helped us become a national presence.”
Mr. Taylor was instrumental in helping Enterprise acquire a rent-a-car company, Air Car, on the west coast and the ELCO Chevrolet/Cadillac dealership in Ballwin, which he led for a time.
“He mentored managers at ELCO and made it the premier customer service operation it is today,” Ross said. “He had great intuition and really good business instincts.”
At around a year old or about 25,000 miles, just about the time most car owners consider a car ‘broken in,’ Enterprise is ready to replace it. Mr. Taylor, the retail car sales authority, helped develop the system for more efficient – and profitable – vehicle disposal.
He helped Enterprise establish a strong partnership with local car dealers to sell the formerly leased cars after they came out of service.
“The majority of our vehicles are now sold through the dealer-direct program,” Ross said. “Paul helped us develop the strategy and (helped us move) from word of mouth to the online virtual world.”
By the time Mr. Taylor retired in 2003, the Enterprise operation was approaching 6,000 offices in the U.S. and four foreign countries. And in the U.S., Enterprise had become a neighborhood business, with locations within 15 miles of 90 percent of the entire population. The company had grown to more than a half million rental vehicles and annual revenue approaching $7 billion.
An enterprising family
Paul Melburne Taylor was born in St. Louis on Nov. 19, 1923, the younger of Melburne Martling Taylor and Dorothy Crawford Taylor’s two sons. After graduating from Clayton High School, Mr. Taylor enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Alaska during World War II.
He married Patricia Newport in 1953. In retirement, the couple split their time between St. Louis and Scottsdale, Ariz., with Mr. Taylor playing golf, traveling and playing the piano.
“Not only will he be missed as a great family man, but he will be missed by thousands of people who are part of the Enterprise team,” Ross said.
In addition to his wife, his brother Jack of St. Louis, and his nephew Andy (Barbara) Taylor of St. Louis, Mr. Taylor, is survived by four children, Donald Altvater, St. Louis; Pamela Taylor, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Cary Taylor, Scottsdale, Ariz., and Lindsey Taylor, San Rafael, Calif. He is also survived by his niece, Jo Ann Kindle (Tom Caruso), of St. Louis, and seven grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5, at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church, 9450 Clayton Rd., in St. Louis.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Mercy Children’s Hospital Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Metro St. Louis, 3450 Park Ave., 63104, or the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation, 8330 Ward Parkway, Suite 510, Kansas City, Mo., 64114.