David Taylor

1930 - 2009

Call David Taylor a life-long contrarian. How else could you describe a man who could show, simultaneously, steely determination and wry self deprecation in his 79 year quest to, simply, get things done? That exemplary quest ended Feb 23 2009 when Taylor passed away, at home, in Rancho Mirage, Calif. And he DID get things done�.. the momentous or the minor�� in blazing headlines or with no hype at all...as a the consensus man (to ringing applause), or the boardroom dissident (to disapproving stares). Call it a big, bold life� one of a kind. The US Navy veteran succumbed to Parkinson's Disease a disease he defied gamely for 20 years - and he picked his moment and terms: at home, with the wife he adored, Robyne, his vigilant caregiver, Aris Hidayat, and his dog, Jezabel, there to see him off. Taylor was too pragmatic to expect a miracle; but that didn't make him less romantic. A year or two earlier, assessing a grim 'months-not-years' prognosis with big-picture clarity, he told his brother in law: "All I really want is another couple of good years with your sister. "Over the past 13 years - when he and his wife of 19years settled locally after a shared life in New York, London &and his hometown, Chicago - the exemplary quest might have seemed a medley of soft-focus things: scouring supermarkets for pet treats for a raucous trio of dogs he described as "noisier than a shareholders' annual meeting." Ask him career questions and he would leave it at: 'I worked in a bank.' He was content with the quiet life of a valley retiree because he lived in the present. He wasn't one to give advice, he hated pretension, he went to lengths never to seem smug. In fact, the shareholders' meeting was a subject he could have written the book on. He did write a book in 2004, and published it too, but in a contrarian way. It was on a subject that, by then, was closer to his heart than slash and burn corporate politics. His book was about a good natured mutt the Taylor's adopted on a getaway to Barbados. The mutt became one of those treat-seeking canines, the mellow one and the most laid back, which posed an odd quandary to toss around: Were the other two noisier because they were waiting for their own biographies? It's probably archetypal contrarian thinking: savor and enjoy small, poignant and unlikely details of life when you have the luxury of doing so. Two decades earlier - as a senior executive in Chicago's financial district - the quandary was neither small nor poignant�.if a bit dog-eat-dog. It hit headlines and rattled Wall St. In 1984 the grandest bank in town, Continental Illinois Trust Bank, was overextended and failing, a victim of its own bad loan making. Taylor was a loan policy dissident. In 1984, when Continental was, to use today's banking crisis lingo, 'toxic', the bank was glad of its dissidents. They were draftees for a bold gesture, a symbolic break with failed policies, to communicate change: so Taylor became chairman. He negotiated with regulators, briefed the media, soothed anxious depositors. For a man in a no-win situation, he got amazing reviews. Time magazine called his efforts "valiant;" The New York Times said he kept "the bank afloat" longer than one clean out of cash should expect. When the federal government took over Taylor moved on; taking with him the reputation of being a cool hand in a crisis. He worked for two other big banks, Irving Trust in New York and then Chemical Bank in New York and London. So who is going to fault him, in retirement, if he preferred his crises to revolve around dollar denominated dog treats not bad loans in unpronounceable currencies. His was a life fully realized and well lived. Chapter by distinct chapter, with a contrarian's through-line, over 79 years. It was shared with style�� if sometimes on a need to know basis. David Taylor has been privately cremated. A celebration of his life, as a contrarian, a man of passion and a quiet achiever, will be held next month in Rancho Mirage. In lieu of flowers his family asks that donations be made to: Movement Disorder Center for Parkinson's Disease, Evanston Hospital, 2100 Pfingsten Road, Glenview, Ill, 60026; Or Living Free Animal Sanctuary, P.O. Box 5,Mountain Center, Ca. 92561.
Wiefels Funeral Directors, Palm Springs, CA 760-327-1257 www.wiefels.com