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MAKING HEADLINES
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The St. Louis
region and its companies often make national news. This column highlights
some of the most recent headline grabbers.
Taylor Family Gift to Saint Louis Symphony Grabs Headlines Around
the Nation
Andy
Taylor announced late last year
his family’s $40 million gift to the
Saint Louis Symphony. The gift made
international news since it is
the largest single personal contribution
every made to an American orchestra for
operations and endowment. |
From the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times,
the Jack Taylor family’s $40 million gift to the Saint Louis Symphony
grabbed headlines across the country in December. In fact, the story
was published in more than 40 newspapers, including USA Today
and International Herald Tribune of Paris, France, and picked
up by newswire services in the U.S. and Canada.
The Taylors’ gift to the 121-year-old symphony orchestra is the
largest single personal contribution ever made to an American orchestra
for operations and endowment. Jack Taylor is the founder and chairman
of St. Louis-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the largest auto rental
company in North America. His son Andrew Taylor, Enterprise president
and CEO, announced the gift to the orchestra’s musicians as they
began a rehearsal for a holiday concert in early December. Joining
Andrew Taylor at the announcement were his wife Barbara and sister,
Jo Ann Kindle who also serves as president of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Foundation.
“Our orchestra is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s best,”
said Andrew Taylor, speaking on behalf of his father and family
at the presentation. “My family, which has called St. Louis home
since the 1800s, firmly believes we should do what we can to preserve
and enhance a civic jewel that does so much to define St. Louis
as a wonderful city in which to live and work.”
The Taylor family gift is a challenge grant allocating $5 million
to operating expenses and the remaining $35 million for increasing
the Symphony’s endowment. Currently at $22 million, the Saint Louis
Symphony’s endowment is considered very low in comparison with orchestras
in cities such as Minneapolis, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, which have
endowments of more than $100 million. The challenge grant is intended
to be matched dollar-for-dollar by other donors. Including the Taylor
family’s gift, the Symphony anticipates raising the endowment between
$80 and $100 million.
“This extraordinary gift from Jack Taylor and his family will help
launch a new era for the Symphony and provide a major impetus to
get the organization back on solid financial footing,” says Virginia
Weldon, board chairman of the Symphony.
Founded in 1880, the Saint Louis Symphony orchestra is consistently
ranked among the top five orchestras in the nation but has faced
financial difficulties for most of the past 20 years. Maestro Hans
Vonk, now in his fifth season with the orchestra, is the Symphony’s
11th music director and conductor. Building the Symphony’s endowment
will preserve the organization’s ability to reach the community
through performances, the Symphony Music School and its community
partnership programs.
Lauer Named Top Entrepreneur for Haystack Toys
Dan Lauer
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According to Business Week, Dan Lauer is serious about toys. The
January 8, 2001, issue mentions Lauer as one of the year’s top entrepreneurs
for his new venture Haystack Toys. The company uses the Internet
to obtain information from parents about the kinds of toys they
want to buy and then searches for ideas that fit the bill. His first
line includes child-size butterfly wings and plush fish. Both are
selling well at some Zany Brainy and FAO Schwarz stores. The profile
tells how in 1988 Lauer left a 10-year career in banking to try
to sell a line of water-filled dolls he had designed. After hundreds
of submission letters went unanswered, Lauer raised $250,000 from
friends and family to make and distribute the doll himself. His
Waterbabies became the second-biggest-selling baby doll ever and
made Lauer a millionaire.
Business Week Top Managers Include Knight and Farr
After 27 years at the helm of Emerson, Charles Knight stepped down
as CEO in October 2000. In a January issue of Business Week, he
and Emerson's new executive, David Farr, were named one of the Top
25 Managers. The article mentions how Knight won renown for continuing
the company's record of 43 straight years of earnings increases.
Another key accomplishment during Knight's years at Emerson was
restructuring to focus on the network power market serving telecommunications
and the Internet. During the company's fiscal year that ended September
30, 2000, earnings climbed eight percent to $1.4 billion on sales
of $15.5 billion. Knight will continue as chairman at Emerson with
former chief operating officer Farr in the CEO slot. Business Week
sees this as a winning combination. |
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