Frederick Southgate Taylor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick Southgate Taylor (1847-12-16-1896-02-16), was a successful businessman, politician, avid philanthropist, and founder of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

His father, the Honorable Tazewell Taylor, was the bursar of The College of William & Mary until his death in 1850. Taylor grew up in and around Norfolk, Virginia. Tradition states that he he served in the Confederate Army, but no permanent record exists within his family.

After receiving his A.B. degree at the College of William & Mary, Taylor entered the University of Virginia in the Autumn of 1867. Taylor stayed at 47 West Range (part of The Range) until 1869, studying pre-law.

On Sunday Evening March 1, 1868, at 47 West Range, Pi Kappa Alpha was founded by Frederick Southgate Taylor, his cousin and roommate Littleton Waller Tazewell Bradford, two of Tazewell's fellow VMI cadets now studying medicine at UVA, James Benjamin Sclater Jr. and Julian Edward Wood, another medical student Robertson Howard, and finally business student William C. Alexander. It is generally indicated and accepted that Taylor was the inspiration behind the founding of Pi Kappa Alpha. He gave the fraternity its name and motto. He is thought to have written the early ritual.

Upon graduation Taylor continued to study law but never practiced it as a profession. He devoted himself primarily to commercial enterprises and politics, amassing a small fortune through real estate. He married Anna Brooke; they had a daughter and four sons.

Representing Norfolk in the Virginia General Assembly for two terms, Taylor then served as President of the Common Council of Norfolk, a position similar to the office of mayor. Always thought of as an outstanding philanthropist and citizen, Taylor made this reputation through using his fortune generously for community service initiatives.

On February 16, 1896, Taylor dropped dead on the streets of Norfolk while talking with an associate. Taylor was forty-nine years old, and most of his children were still young. Taylor was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk along with his cousin and fellow founder Littleton Waller Tazewell Bradford. Taylor's son, Brooke Taylor, was initiated into Pi Kappa Alpha in 1898 at Pi Chapter of Washington and Lee University.

Norfolk newspapers wrote the following upon Taylor's death:

"quiet and unostentatious in his manner" whose "friends appreciate his true worth, while the city at large felt the benefits of his interest at all times and all circumstances." He was called a "gentleman in every sense of the word" and characterized as "devotedly attached to his wife and family." His business associates esteemed him for "his earnest character, his intelligence, and faithfulness to duty" and they saw in him a man "whose services in public offices were distinguished by zeal, integrity, and success, while his private life was adorned by the highest social virtues."