Time sure is passing fast.  It seems like just yesterday that Frances Killpatrick wrote an article on Jack Taylor for the Old Town Crier.  That article was written in 1995, fifteen years ago.  I thought that it was time to catch up with Jack again and see what has changed.

    As most of you know, Jack Taylor is the owner of Alexandria Toyota, one of the top Toyota dealerships in the country.  What most of us don’t know is how much time Jack gives back to his community through time and money.  He and his company contribute to over 135 charitable organizations a year.  The two closest to his heart are the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria and Capital Hospice.

    Taylor has been a major supporter of the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria since 1986.  The Fund has provided financial aid to thousands of Alexandria students and their families and awarded scholarships with a total value of over $6.6 million to more than 3,100 deserving T.C. Williams graduates.  Alexandria Toyota has supported this organization for over twenty years.  Over the last four years alone, Alexandria Toyota has given them four cars.  The Scholarship Fund committee sold 700 tickets at $100 apiece for each of the four car raffles, raising $280,000.  Alexandria Toyota also put up $175,000 over the four years to be matched by new giving.  It was matched, and raised $350,000 total.  That works out to be a grand total of $630,000 that Alexandria Toyota and the citizens of Alexandria has raised for the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria.  Taylor relates that, “Alexandria is a one high school town; T.C. Williams High School.  Over 80% of our graduates went on to higher education.  It is my goal to make sure that any child that has the grades to go to college goes to college regardless of their financial situation.  We are almost there.  I do not believe there is another city in the United States that supports their graduating seniors like the City of Alexandria.”  His commitment to youth is constant.  As I was leaving the interview, a young man of about 20 years old was invited into the office to discuss his future.  For over thirty years I have watched Jack Taylor help friends as well as strangers and be a mentor to all.

    Taylor’s interest in Hospice comes from a life-long experience.  As quoted in the 1995 interview - “I became acquainted with the Hospice of Northern Virginia when the person who helped take care of me all through childhood and worked for my family for 50 years, Helen Denny, was a patient there,” he says.  “How they treated this wonderful lady will never be forgotten by me or the members of my family,” he said.  The family has also established the Helen Denny Education Foundation, which today is run by the Second Baptist Church, which Helen attended.  For his work in Hospice, in 2006, Taylor was given the “Passion for Caring Award” by Capital Hospice.  “They have touched my life and made a dramatic difference in lives of many other’s as well,” he says.  The Passion for Caring Gala is held each year to celebrate the philanthropic spirit of the community.  Taylor was given this award for raising $2 million over a twenty-year period.  Once again, his involvement is ongoing.  While I was at the interview, Taylor was making arrangements with Hospice to help an old friend of his who needed help and was destitute.  Sometimes I wonder how Jack ever had time to sell cars.

    But sell cars he did.  In 1973 Taylor opened his first dealership in Del Ray with only 4 employees.  Today, he employs over 200 at his ten-year-old dealership south of Crystal City and boasts the third largest service department in the country.  One of the principles that Taylor lives by is “be a good business person and give back to the community.”  This motto has allowed Alexandria Toyota to be the recipient of the Toyota President’s Award each year since its inception in 1985.  “This award is important to me because it is awarded to dealers based on stellar performance in customer satisfaction,” he tells me.

    With the image of quality paramount with Toyota, I had to find out how the recent recall of cars by Toyota has affected his business.  “I still believe that Toyota makes the best car on the road, and I will stand by that,” he says.  “As with other auto makers, we have had a few glitches, but those are being fixed.”  Alexandria Toyota’s reputation over the years has created a fierce customer loyalty and Taylor assures me that it is still strong.  As Taylor pulls a big book of figures from his desk, he tells me, “Our loyal customers are still buying cars and trucks, in fact; to date we are a little above last years sales figures.”  “The thing that hurt us the most, like everyone else, was the beginning of this recession,” he continues.  “Sales were off two years ago more than last year or this year.”

    The competitive fire still burns in the eyes of Jack Taylor, even though the body is beginning to slow down.  Now at age 63, Taylor tells me, “You know, I played pickup basketball until I was fifty, but now the back doesn’t let me do what I used to do.”  Over the years Taylor has been an avid jet skier, boater, deep-sea fisherman, and skier and even a little golf.  “Yeah, before I started the dealership in 1973 I was preparing to go to Colorado to ski, and I think my parents were concerned whether I would come back or not,” he says.  “I never was a good golfer, but being in this business, I had to learn a little,” he remembers.

    Today Jack’s passions are still his cars, customers and his 21-year-old son John III, who has recently joined his father at the dealership.  The younger Taylor has a tough act to follow, but he sure has the right mentor.  As the cloud over Toyota slowly lifts, the life of Jack Taylor shines even brighter.

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