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Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM |
Nassau, Bahamas - To say that E.P. Taylor lived
a full life is an understatement. The man behind the Lyford Cay community
was a dynamic, dedicated, innovative and preserving individual. It is
appropriate, therefore, that as we celebrate the 50th year of Lyford
Cay International School (LCIS), we pay tribute to the individual who
created and executed a vision that has become the lifeblood of our own
lives. For in light of our mission, and as representative of the International
Baccalaureate program, there are few who epitomize the philosophy and
goals of LCIS so well. Indeed, Taylor brings the International Baccalaureate’s
(IB) Learner Profile to life and is the very essence of the IB’s Creativity,
Action, and Service (CAS) component.
Edward Plunket Taylor, the developer
or Lyford Cay, was born in Ottawa, Ontario on January 29, 1901. He was
12 years old when he started his first business, breeding and selling
rabbits. He was so successful that one of his competitors sabotaged
his endeavor by breaking in one night to mix up the breeds. At that
point, tired of breeding rabbits, Edward abandoned the enterprise he
had managed for two years. Notwithstanding, the young entrepreneur’s
defining characteristics had been exposed: Foremost, Edward was creative,
astute, and tenacious. He also had an exceptional ability to make successful
matches, a strength that would lead to profitable mergers and his reputation
as one of the world’s top breeders of racing horses. And last, Edward
was charitable. Instead of selling his rabbits, he gave them away.
Edward attended the prep school City
& Guilds College of London and was then accepted at McGill University.
Because he was only 16, his parents enrolled him in grade 13 at Ottawa
Collegiate. During this time, the six-foot tall 16 year old lived with
his grandfather Charles who taught him about banking, railway, trust
companies, and most important, financing. The lessons shaped Edward’s
ambition: to follow in his grandfather’s steps.
Responsible for contributing to payment
of his education, Edward worked his way through university. Sometime
during his first year at McGill, while making himself toast for breakfast,
Edward came up with an invention: a toaster that would toast both sides
of the bread. Until then, toasters could only toast one side at a time.
Two weeks after he turned 18, Edward filed a patent for his toaster.
With patent in hand, he approached a manufacturing company that not
only bought the exclusive right to manufacture his product, but also
agreed to hire Edward for a summer job. Royalties poured in, and Edward
made his first trip to the racetrack, a place that would become a notable
part of his life.
Although Edward was pursuing an engineering
degree at McGill, his real passion lay in business and finance. However,
he thought the degree would come in handy, and, adept at predictions,
it later did. In 1922, he was graduated and received his Bachelor of
Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Unfortunately, upon graduating Edward
entered tough economic times. With jobs hard to come by, he took some
time off and learned to play golf, a game he became proficient in. Edward’s
love of golf lives on in the form of the 18-hole course at Lyford Cay!
One day, still out of work, Edward was complaining about the inefficient
bus service when someone suggested he start his own line. The only friend
who had money to invest had poor eyesight, but the two set up the company
and drove the buses, turning the line into a successful business. A
year later they sold the business to the Capital Bus Line for a profit.
Edward’s prominent grandfather,
Charles Magee, died in 1918. His father, Colonel Plunket Taylor then
became Director and President of the family’s Brading Breweries Limited.
In 1923, the Magee family decided to make Edward a member of the board.
During the same year, Colonel Taylor retired from his position at the
Royal Bank of Canada. However, a securities firm in Toronto asked him
to join their team in order to open a branch in Ottawa. The Colonel
accepted the position, and within a year, the business had grown substantially,
requiring the hiring of employees. As biographer Richard Rohmer wrote,
“As his father had found out, Edward was disarmingly persuasive as
well as persistent—two main qualities of a good salesman” (p.34).
Thus it was that Edward joined the securities firm and became involved
with his family’s brewery, giving him the knowledge and experience
to set his ambitions in motion.
Edward sold an impressive amount
of bonds, enough to buy himself a green, open-Pontiac. When a new golf
course opened, Edward was asked to be its club captain, and accepting
the position, he attended many social events. In the spring of 1926,
at one of the club’s dances, he met Winifred Duguid, a petite, blond-haired,
blue-eyed twenty-three year old. Six weeks later, Edward proposed, and
in June of 1927 they were married, driving off in Edward’s Pontiac
for their honeymoon.
1928 marked the year that Edward
began his empire. Despite prohibition, despite the Great Depression,
despite government red tape and lack of cash, Edward persevered and
the Brewing Corporation of Canada was born, one of the largest breweries
ever created. By 1937 Edward had control of the brewing industry and
was making a stunning profit. After his business experiences in World
War II, putting him face-to-face with Winston Churchill and many other
key figures of the times, Edward went on to form the legendary investment
firm, Argus Corporation in 1945.
With his success, came changes in
lifestyle. In 1936, he and Winnie began to build their estate on the
20 acres they owned on Bayview Avenue in North York, a suburb of Toronto.
As they were walking across the land, Winnie observed how windy it was
in the fields. Her comment led to the estate’s name, Windfields, a
name that became a legend in horseracing. Edward seemed to have had
uncanny luck when it came to horses. He won his first race and went
on to win many more, culminating with the triumph of his line of successful
racehorses, Northern Dancer, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1964, setting
a new record. By 1974 “Windfields Farm-bred horses were at the top
of North American-bred horses in money won and at the same time at the
top of the list of stakes winners” (p.316).
Edward approached community service
with the same creativity, energy, and commitment that he displayed in
business. In the early 1950’s the board of trustees of the ailing
Toronto General Hospital asked him to head a campaign to raise money
for a much needed expansion and modernization. Edward pushed so hard
that he exceeded the target by two million. Taylor continued his fund-raising
efforts for many other projects including the Toronto Art Gallery, the
historic landmark Bank of Canada building, and the creation of the spectacular
O’Keefe Civic Center, which opened in 1960 with a gala event production
of Camelot, starring Richard Burton as King Arthur.
Edward and Winnie first visited Nassau
in December 1945 at the invitation of Allan Miller, an American member
of the Board of Argus. Miller’s house was in the west of New Providence
at Lyford Cay. There were very few houses in the area, and most of the
land was swamp. Being a visionary, Edward saw tremendous potential.
After ten years of visiting Nassau
regularly, Edward decided it was the place where he wanted to retire.
It was at this time his development ideas took off. He noted that Lyford
Cay was close to Windsor Field, the site of a new international airport.
He saw that, after he drained the swamps and cleared the land, he would
be left with an area framed by beautiful beaches. He then approached
Harold Christie who owned extensive land in the area. Edward purchased
2,800 acres, setting aside 1,000 for development by his newly established
Lyford Cay Development Company. Toronto engineer Ben Zavits was called
in to head the development, and architect Earle Morgan who had designed
the O’Keefe Center and had just finished designing another of Edward’s
projects, the 14 million New Woodbine Racetrack in Ontario, was hired
to create the exclusive clubhouse. Golf course architect Dick Wilson
designed the 18-hole course.
In 1959 the 2.8 million dollar Lyford
Cay clubhouse opened. The Lyford Cay Club had over 500 members, and
most of the waterfront lots in the community had been sold. The ownership
list was, indeed, impressive and included such icons as the Earl of
Carnarvon, CBS Board Chairman, William Paley, the Earl of Dudley, Henry
Ford, II, and Vice-Chairman of Time, Roy E. Larsen. Edward had created
his own Camelot on 200 yards of the Atlantic Ocean, stretching across
the cay to Clifton Bay. The Bermuda-Georgian bungalow, with its elegant
Canadian pine library, was designed by New York architect Eldredge Snyder.
It was here that U.S. President Kennedy stayed while attending a summit
meeting in Lyford Cay with Britain’s Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
in December 1962.
In 1962, Taylor founded the Lyford
Cay School to address the educational needs of some of his staff members.
The school opened with nine students and two teachers on the site of
the present school.
In 1963, a new company made up of
Lyford Cay Club members formed, the Lyford Cay Investments Limited.
Edward retained his title as President and Chief Executive Officer.
In the same year, he became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Trust Corporation of the Bahamas Limited. Two years later he became
Chairman of the new Royal-West Banking Corporation Limited, headquartered
in Nassau. In 1964 Edward opened The Gold Star Brewery. In 1967 Winnie
and Edward acquired “belonger” status, a form of permanent residency.
In my own interviews with staff who
worked closely with him, Edward is described as a “big booming”
man with a “jovial” disposition who knew everyone’s name and was
very hands-on. He is known for going out of his way to help someone
in need.
His
work did not just include the exclusive gated community of Lyford Cay,
but, in his ever-present spirit of community service, also included
low-income housing in Mt. Pleasant Village, and, in his mid-70’s,
he built thousands of low-cost houses in Nigeria, Venezuela, and Indonesia.
The Lyford Cay International School
is proud to be a legacy of this inspiring individual who contributed
so much to the advancement of Lyford Cay, The Bahamas, and the world.
Lyford Cay International School
(LCIS) is one of less than 200 schools worldwide that is a fully accredited
International Baccalaureate (IB) school. The aim of all IB programs
is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common
humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better
and more peaceful world. For more information on LCIS please visit
www.lcis.b
s
(Information, unless otherwise
noted, is taken from the biography E. P. Taylor by Richard Rohmer, published
in 1983 by Goodread Biographies, Halifax, Nova Scotia—found on a dusty
shelf of the storage room of the Lyford Cay Clubhouse.
© Copyright 2012 by thebahamasweekly.com
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