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Forest Park Expects $5 Million Donation

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Jul. 17--As a boy growing up in University City, Jack C. Taylor loved to explore Forest Park -- navigating the lake with his father in the summer, sledding down snowy Art Hill in the winter.

Today, Taylor will return to the park as the billionaire founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, poised to give some of his considerable wealth to make sure generations of St. Louis children enjoy the park as he did. The rental car king is expected to announce this morning a $5 million donation for the preservation of the city's crown jewel.

The contribution will be the largest by an individual to Forest Park Forever, the private group whose massive fundraising campaign has been credited with reversing years of neglect at the park.

"We are just overwhelmed by his generosity," said Jim Mann, executive director of Forest Park Forever.

The gift comes at a key time for the park. Forest Park has blossomed into one of the nation's top city parks -- the next challenge becomes how to keep it that way. As Mann puts it, that's "the 'forever' phase of Forest Park Forever."

During the restoration effort, Taylor and his family were some of the park's kindest benefactors. The Taylors donated more than $2 million to pay for the construction of a new boathouse that opened in 2003. Though the wooden electric boats that Taylor rode with his father have long been replaced, the memories remain for Taylor.

"I have very fond memories of those days with my father, who I was crazy about," Taylor, 83, said in a brief interview.

Of course, Forest Park is not the only recipient of Taylor's philanthropy, nor the one that has even benefited the most. In 2000, Taylor's $40 million "challenge" grant helped save the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from the brink of insolvency.

Taylor recently discussed his gift to the park with Mann over lunch, fittingly, at the boathouse Taylor paid to build. The one sign of that donation is a plaque over the fireplace in memory of Taylor's parents, Mel and Dorothy.

Taylor's latest gift, to be announced in a ceremony at the park's visitor center, will bring the Forest Park Forever endowment to $12 million.

That financial cushion does not ease all the park's money concerns. The $94 million push to restore Forest Park that began almost a decade ago brought back to life landmarks such as the Jewel Box and the World's Fair Pavilion. Now, park boosters are looking to fulfill the lower-profile task of finding a sustained stream of cash to maintain the park's pristine condition.

St. Louis city officials have agreed to put $1.5 million a year toward the park, Mann says, but the city also is caretaker for more than 100 other parks. Keeping Forest Park as polished as it is now will require $3.5 million more a year. Taylor's gift is a step in the right direction, Mann says, but Forest Park still needs more help.

"We want to make sure it's the premier urban park in the country," Mann said.

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Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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