Jack Taylor

Left Washington U. to join Navy; served as a fighter pilot on U.S.S. Enterprise during WWII. Became sales manager for St. Louis Cadillac distributor. Took 50% pay cut to start company that provided replacement cars; eventually rented cars to customers with stolen or damaged vehicles. Business took off 1970s when insurance companies were ordered by courts to pay for replacement rentals. Today Enterprise Rent-A-Car revenues exceed $9 billion. Rental car business lagging as automakers sell fleets fewer cars at higher prices. Enterprise skirting industry woes by focusing on insurance replacements; demand remains steady so long as cars break down. Appointed nonrelated exec Pamela M. Nicholson president; son Andrew is chief executive; daughter Jo Ann Taylor Kindle runs Enterprise Foundation. Offering hybrid rentals; created Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels. Under his son, Andrew, who succeeded him as chief executive officer in 1991, Enterprise in 2007 bought National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, combining three of the biggest rental brands in the U.S. under what became Enterprise Holdings Inc. Andrew Taylor stepped down as CEO of the closely held company in 2013. Jack Crawford Taylor was born April 14, 1922, in St. Louis, the first of two boys. His father, Mel, was a stockbroker. His brother, Paul, a former vice president of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, died in 2012. Taylor had his two children with his first wife, Mary Ann; their marriage ended in divorce, according to a 2006 story in Fortune magazine.