Edwin David “Ted” Taylor
August 23, 1927 - July 29, 2015
Ted was born on August 23rd, 1927 at Los Angeles General Hospital to Annida Denison Taylor and Richard Holmes Taylor. He had two siblings -- Denison Taylor resident of Smyrna, TN and Joan Taylor formerly of Cerritos, CA and now deceased. Ted, Denny and Joanie were lifelong members of the Denison Society by way of their mother’s family. Ted graduated from Carpinteria High School. Among his many youthful endeavors, he lifeguarded at Carpinteria Beach. Ted matriculated at Whittier College and University of California at Santa Barbara but then transferred after one year on an NROTC scholarship to Stanford University where he graduated in 1951 with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering. While at Stanford, Ted played on the Varsity Football team. He was also President of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity where he remained active his whole life. Ted went back to school at Notre Dame de Namur University to earn a Masters in Business Administration just before he turned sixty.
Ted served our country twice -- once in the Navy in 1944 and then as an enlisted officer post college graduation in Quantico, Virginia for Marine Corps officer training and one year in Korea on active duty. He received a Marine Corps letter of commendation for his service there. Upon return from Korea, Ted married fellow Stanford student and the love of his life Polly Hoover Taylor, daughter of Paul and Evelyn Hoover, in 1953 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Polly and Ted lived on base at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina while he completed his tour. After his military service, they moved to upstate NY where Ted joined General Electric Corporation’s training program. One year later, Ted and Polly returned to California where Ted was offered a position at Eitel McCullough in San Bruno and ultimately settled into a long and decorated engineering and management career at Litton Industries where he served in roles from strategic acquisitions to VP of marketing. His travel schedule rivaled any and took him frequently to Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
In 1955, Ted and Polly welcomed their first child, Denison Hoover Taylor, into the world. Kathryn Ann Taylor, their second child joined the family in 1958. Ted served many civic institutions including the Mayor’s Task Force on Civil Rights, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Vestry, and as a Cub Scout and Boy Scout Leader. In 1962, he invented and prototyped with a fraternity brother an electric car in anticipation of an oil crisis. Polly also worked vigorously on SF Junior League, Coyote Point Museum -- including chairing four Decorator Show Houses -- Girl Scouts, School PTAs and many other boards. The couple built a network of close and active friends at the Peninsula Tennis Club, the Hillsborough Racquet Club, the Burlingame Country Club and the Town and Country Club of SF. Ted especially treasured his membership in the San Francisco Flycasters Club. The family enjoyed summer vacations at Glenbrook Inn on Lake Tahoe. With Polly, Ted threw a Hot Dog Party every August from 1958 to 2011 which grew in size to over 200 people. Tragically, Denny, an eagle scout, passed away in a wilderness accident at the age of 22 in 1978. Kathryn lives in SF with her husband, Tom Steyer who is currently an advocate for clean energy, and is co-CEO of Beneficial State Bank, a social enterprise. Kathryn and Tom have four children who have been the apples of their grandparents’ eyes -- Sam, Gus, Evi and Henry Steyer. Through and with them, Ted plumbed the worlds of myriad sports, and BattleBots. Ted never missed an opportunity to engage in vigorous debate but he also could listen when it really mattered. He meant the world to his family and friends and will be sorely missed.
In lieu of flowers, please be generous to your favorite non-profit, visit a wild place, or be kind to a fellow human being in Ted’s memory.