Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Merritt Harrison Jr. TAYLOR
Merritt H. Taylor Jr., 87, president of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. from 1960 until it was sold to SEPTA in 1970, died of respiratory illness Friday, March 26, at Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach, Fla., where he had lived since 1973.
Mr. Taylor was from the third and last generation of the family to own the system of trolleys and buses known as the Red Arrow Lines.
In an echo of an era when after-work elbow-bending was a ritual for many, a nephew, Carter Taylor, recalled that among his uncle's innovations on the route through the Main Line to Norristown was a bar car, a coach where drinks were sold.
Mr. Taylor attended the Haverford School with the Class of 1940 and attended the University of Pennsylvania, his nephew wrote in material for his obituary.
In 1939, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard, but in World War II was an administrator with the Eighth Air Force in England. He was recalled to duty during the Korean War.
Before and after selling his firm to SEPTA, Mr. Taylor "was a staunch advocate for private enterprise and did not believe government operation of public transit would serve the public interest," his nephew wrote.
Carter Taylor also wrote that his uncle "was most proud of the familylike labor relations at the company."
A 34-day strike in 1963, he noted, was the only such action in the history of the firm, founded in 1848 as the Philadelphia & West Chester Turnpike Road Co.
Carter Taylor wrote that his uncle thought that strike "accelerated the process of movement toward government ownership."
"He felt that the public never wanted to experience a strike like the one in '63."
That March, The Inquirer reported that the Red Arrow Lines had just settled the strike, by Lodge 998 of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, with a wage and benefits package worth about 27 cents an hour over two years. The 389 drivers in the union served 60,000 riders a day in Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, the story said, most of whom worked in Philadelphia.
In 1971, Mr. Taylor moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and until 1978 was president of the Bryn Mawr Group, a Florida real estate development company. He also owned a series of restaurants, including the Red-Tailed Hawk in Vero Beach, and bred ribbon-winning dachshunds.
Mr. Taylor was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
Carter Taylor recalled that after World War II, his grandfather Merritt Taylor Sr. "sold the family farm in Keswick, Va. . . . and used the proceeds to acquire the Philadelphia Western Railroad" to add to Philadelphia Suburban. On a recent drive to look at the farm, whose owners had saved it from development, Mr. Taylor remarked that at today's prices it would have been better to have held on to the farm, his nephew said.
Mr. Taylor is survived by daughter Adele Ulrich, stepson Walter N. Allen Jr., a brother, and two grandchildren. Another brother died in 2009.
He is also survived by his former wife Meredith. His wife, Geraldine, died in 1987. His former wife Gloria died in 2006.
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