Henry H. Taylor, Jr.'s Obituary
TAYLOR, JR, HENRY HAMILTON, son of Henry Hamilton Taylor, Sr. and Nathalie Hayman Taylor, both of Key West, FL was born in Key West, FL on December 12, 1912. He graduated from the University of Florida and Law School in 1935, a member of R.O.T.C. and Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. He joined his father’s law practice, McCaskill, Taylor & McCaskill, and argued his first case in front of the Florida Supreme Court in 1936. By 1938 he was practicing in both Miami and Key West. In Miami he worked on the legal aspects of building the Florida East Coast Railway station. In Key West he was elected special counsel to the city of Key West. In the early 1970’s he successfully petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to allow exiled Cuban attorneys to apply to and become members of the Florida Bar, and as a result became an honorary member of the Cuban Bar Association. He was a member of the National Guard and was inducted into the army in 1941. As a Major he led his unit, stationed in Kodiak, Alaska, during World War II, completing his service on the Aleutian island of Attu. He remained a member of the army reserve and was again called to active duty to serve in the Korean War, as a Colonel. His unit, the Florida 712th Anti-Aircraft Gun battalion was one of the oldest in the State. After returning from the war, Henry started his own firm, Taylor, Brion, Buker, & Greene. For years he represented Pan American Construction Company, Calder Race Course, Tropical Park, Hialeah Race Course, Ernest Hemingway and later Hemingway’s wife. An avid golfer in his later life, cited in Golf Digest as the “most improved amateur golfer” and a philanthropist at heart, Henry founded the Walter Hagen Foundation. President of the American Cancer Society in the early seventies, he helped raise $14,000,000 for the cause. Through his stake in Oolite Industries, Inc., he donated concrete and concrete block for the construction of buildings at the Law School of the University of Miami, St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church and other local structures. He passed away peacefully July 10, 2011. He was preceded in death by his wife Regina “Mike” Taylor, and is survived by his present wife, Ernestina Frade Taylor, his daughter Candice Taylor Cosmides (husband James C. Cosmides, M.D.), his son Henry “Hamilton” Taylor III, and his four grandchildren Regina Cosmides, Christopher Cosmides, Nathalie Cosmides, and Victoria Taylor. Services will be held in his honor on Friday, July 15, 2011 at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church at 1142 Coral Way, Coral Gables, FL at 11am. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the American Cancer Society, or your church or charity of choice. VAN ORSDEL CORAL GABLES.
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