Good Friday afternoon, everyone:

One aspect of the Kresge Centennial we are now embarking on should be a constant thanks for the privilege of working here – and an appreciation of the many who preceded us to establish the foundation of Kresge today. We have our high vantage point today only because we stand on their shoulders.

One of those broad sets of shoulders is that of Ted Taylor, who spent nearly three decades with Kresge as either an executive or board member, including nearly a decade as our first full-time president. That tenure stretched from the early 1970s to the beginning of this century and saw the Foundation move to its current location, make some of its first non-capital challenge grants, deepen its involvement with the city of Detroit, and create initiatives for science and HBCUs.

But beyond the administrative achievements – I understand from those who knew him – Ted left a powerful imprint of his personality and spirit on the organization. In an oral history, he said, “I viewed my association with Kresge as kind of a love affair.” Amy Robinson said that when she and Genise Singleton emailed one another, reminiscing about Ted, “the word that came to mind for both of us was kind.”

That was after we received news from Ted’s son John that Ted had passed away Tuesday evening at age 93 in Pennsylvania, where he lived. “It was not a shock and had been expected sooner. He died peacefully,” John Taylor said (you can read his official obituary with a full list of survivors and suggested memorial donations here).

Alfred H. (Ted) Taylor came to us in 1972 as vice president for administration, following a career mostly in banking, but including two years as associate director of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, a creation of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. He’d also spent three years on active duty as a Navy officer, following graduation from Williams College.

His first major task on arriving at Kresge was to oversee implementation of the 1969 Tax Reform Act. You hear a lot about our mandate to spend 5 percent of assets annually. That was introduced by the reform act, and it required the foundation to move overnight in 1972 from about $8 million in annual grants to about $26 million. An enormously complex and important undertaking.  

Hand in hand with the new spending target, Kresge had to expand both its staff and its then-Birmingham space, moving to our current location but in different form – the Victorian farmhouse with a 10,000-square-foot addition designed by architect William Kessler.

The dizzying pace of change continued as Ted ascended to the expanded role of a fulltime president in 1978 – when Bill Baldwin stepped down to become board chairman, succeeding Stanley Kresge. Ted, in turn stepped down to become board chair in 1987 when John Marshall became president. And after leaving the chairmanship in 1993, he served Kresge another eight years as a board member.

Ted was instrumental not only in shaping our early provision of non-capital grants, our involvement with the city of Detroit, and our pursuit of the science and HBCU initiatives, but was also deeply involved in the creation of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and Independent Sector, the evolution of program staff roles,  the undertaking of early grantee perception surveys, the expansion of our board, and a great deal more.

Amy, who joined Kresge’s staff of about 20 in 1995, recalled in an email to me the ethos that Ted brought to the Foundation: “Seeing his friendly face come down the hall to check in and ask how each of us and our families were doing, made us feel connected to the board and organization in a more meaningful way. It was his own way of culture-building.”

She continued: “I always enjoyed hearing Ted talk or reading his notes. He had such a positive demeanor and regularly used the words, ‘marvelous, remarkable, wonderful.’ He had a great sense of humor and was deeply committed to Kresge and philanthropy at large. I also knew he deeply loved his friends, children, and it was clear – the love of his life – his wife, Betsy. The deep love and respect he had for Betsy was palpable when he spoke. He could not have been more on point with the dedication and care he showed us, and the feeling was mutual. … We owe him a debt of gratitude for sharing his time and talent with us.”

I agree. We at Kresge will forever be shaped by his contributions. May he rest in peace.

Rip

Rip Rapson (he/him/his)

President and CEO

The Kresge Foundation

www.kresge.org

248-643-9630

rrapson@kresge.org

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