From grieving families to gifted musicians, Scott Taylor spent his life helping others | Commentary
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Last Sunday’s newspaper carried our annual list of “10 People Who Make Orlando a Better Place to Live” — a collection of Central Floridians who do great things for others, often in the shadows.
The feature was on the front page. Yet deep inside that same edition, I spied a piece about a man who could’ve also been on that list.
His name was Scott Taylor. And the page-25 piece was his obituary.
My guess is that most of you never knew Scott. Like others featured on the list, he never sought the spotlight. But he was special.
He was a banker early in life. He raised horses and orchids later. He was a loving husband, doting father and enthusiastic granddad.
But the reason he should be this year’s honorary No. 11 is that he also worked relentlessly on behalf of worthy nonprofits. Not just one or two. At least a dozen. Everything from Audubon Florida and the Nature Conservancy to Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies and the Orlando Philharmonic.
I realized there was something special about this Lake County naturalist around the third or fourth time I ran into him working on behalf of a local charity. He was always there. Always giving, often in uniquely personal ways.
For instance, Scott poured himself into helping families during the most tragic moment of their lives — when a mother was about to give birth to a baby she knew wouldn’t live.
The families, knowing they were about to experience excruciating heartbreak, would invite Scott into the delivery room to capture on film the brief moments where parents would cradle the newborn who would never grow up. It would provide forever evidence of a life cut short but that truly mattered. It’s not something just anybody can do.
“He was a big man. But he would quietly, gently get those pictures,” said Roxanne Baggott, a retired neonatal intensive care unit nurse. “He had the innate ability to see what people needed before they even realized it themselves.’
Scott did the work on behalf of a national nonprofit called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Six years ago, Scott asked if I’d take part in a ceremony honoring the lost infants. I wasn’t familiar with the group back then. I didn’t even know Scott that well. What I did know was that he had a heart for humanity. And if he said this group was worth supporting, he was probably right.
“He was such a loving person,” said his wife of 53 years, Elaine.
She spoke through tears, largely because Scott just had too much life left to live. Before complications to pneumonia claimed his life, he’d been determined to leave the hospital and continue helping others. “He kept saying I’m going home in just a couple of days,” she said.
So the 77-year-old spent his final days trying to lift others’ spirits, thanking the overworked nurses for their efforts and telling the cleaning ladies that their smiles brightened his day. “He had the best sense of humor,” said his sister, Deborah. “He could always make you laugh.”
Scott’s wife marveled at his ability to keep a positive attitude even as his health failed. “He would tell me: ‘I’m so blessed,’” she said. “And I’d ask: ‘How can you say that right now?’ And he would say: ‘Because I am.’”
Scott started life in Connecticut as one of five kids. He served in the U.S. Navy and went on to a career in banking that took him to New York where he specialized in corporate lending.
But then, after finding success by starting a couple of his own companies, he and Elaine decided they wanted to slow down and enjoy their lives and their passions. So they moved to Sorrento to raise horses, nurture orchids and take pictures. Scott saw beauty everywhere he looked and felt compelled to capture it on film. He made frequent trips to Africa where he took shots that he turned into calendars.
He had a head for business, an eye for art and a heart for humanity. So he used his skills to do everything from serve as treasurer to create promotional videos for Audubon, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, Opera Orlando, Mothers’ Milk Bank of Florida, the Orlando Philharmonic, Winnie Palmer Hospital, Arnold Palmer Hospital, the Nature Conservancy, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Canine Companions and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park.
“I think he was busier in retirement than he was when he worked,” said his son, David.
Whatever these groups needed, Scott gave. Just ask their leaders.
“Not only was he generous philanthropically, but he was always looking for ways to contribute with his own two hands,” said Julie Wraithmell, the executive director of Audubon Florida. “Whether it was photography, hosting events or pounding the pavement to meet with elected leaders.”
Mary Palmer, a longtime supporter of both the opera and philharmonic, said Scott not only gave generously, but “uplifted the people around him.”
Betsy Gwinn, the former executive director of the Bach Festival, called him “a passionate problem solver who would raise his hand to support the causes he cared about with whatever resources he had. He loved people. He loved animals, and he loved knowing that he was making a difference.”
Baggott, the retired NICU nurse, said Scott did all of this with such a positive attitude that “he made you want to be like him.”
So Baggott decided to do just that. After a career in nursing, she asked Scott to train her to take the photos of families cradling the newborns and memorialize lives that mattered.
Scott also had a big box of tiny teddy bears he would give to the families so that the infants had one, single possession of their own before leaving this world.
Scott’s family gave that box of bears to Baggot. And she made a vow to Scott: “We’re going to keep your legacy going.”
