Cornered: June
From June 2006
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David Taylor Styling Downtown's Skyline
By Randy BechtelDavid Taylor first heard his calling as a boy vacationing in the family car watching skylines rise from the American plains. Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Kansas City — their silhouettes influenced him more than anything or anyone besides his parents, he says. “We always went by car. We couldn’t afford to fly,” recalls Taylor, 49, the 10th of 11 children of a Texaco gas station owner in Abilene, Texas.
As the president and CEO of David S. Taylor Interests Inc., he built upon that calling to become one of urban Sacramento’s premier commercial developers. Indeed, it was the lure of urban involvement that sustained him during the four years he studied to become a priest.
He was “shepherded” to divinity studies by Henry McGill, an Irish priest who years earlier had converted Taylor’s mother from Southern Baptist to Catholic. “I’m not sure my parents thought the priesthood was terribly right for me, but since I was the 10th kid, they weren’t terribly hands on,” says Taylor, who studied two years at a seminary in Ohio and two more at the theology school at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
He doesn’t dwell on his reasons for changing his career course, but after leaving theological studies, he enrolled in the business school of Rice University in Houston to major in finance. At age 25, Taylor landed a summer job with Houston-based Gerald Heinz Interests and was charged with analyzing the construction cash flow of a 75-story building.
Going from future priest to high-rise developer is not the leap it may seem, he says. “The things that were attractive to me did transfer. As a priest, you are automatically a community leader — even if you’re not qualified. In this business, if you do the kinds of projects that are high profile, you have an impact on the community.”
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