Reese H. Taylor Jr.

Reese Hale Taylor Jr. (born May 6, 1928 in Pasadena , California ; died April 16, 2010 in Las Vegas , Nevada ) was an American attorney and government employee. From 1981 to 1985 he was chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission .

Life

Reese Taylor Jr. was born in 1928, the second of three children to Reese Hale Taylor (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union Oil Company of California ) and Kathryn Emery Taylor. He graduated from Webb School in 1945 and studied at Stanford University until December 1948 . He passed his Bachelor of Arts with distinction. He then studied until June 1952 at the Law School of Cornell University in New York. After graduating with a Bachelor of Laws , he became a member of the Order of Coif .

Reese Taylor Jr. started working for the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher after graduation. In 1958 he left the firm to travel through Europe and North Africa and make a film. After his return in 1959, he was doing business in Las Vegas. From 1960 to 1965 he was a freelance lawyer in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills . In 1966 and 1967 he worked as a lawyer in the law firm Wiener, Goldwater and Galatz in Las Vegas. During this time he supported the gubernatorial campaign of Paul Laxalt . After his election victory, he became chairman of the Nevada Public Service Commission in 1967 . Since Governor Laxalt did not run again, his employment with the state ended in 1971 and he moved to the law firm Laxalt, Berry & Allison. From 1978 he was in the renamed Allison, Brunetti, MacKenzie & Taylor Ltd. Partner.

In 1976 and 1980 he led the Ronald Reagan presidential campaign in Nevada. In May 1981 President Reagan nominated him for the vacant seat of Robert J. Corber on the Interstate Commerce Commission . After his approval by the Senate, he was appointed chairman of the regulatory authority on June 25, 1981. During his tenure, he implemented many deregulation measures in the transport sector, including the Staggers Rail Act passed in 1980, as well as constant budget cuts and the planned closure of the agency by the Reagan administration. Since his deregulation efforts did not go fast enough for representatives of industry and politics, he was replaced as head of the agency by Heather J. Gradison and ended on December 12, 1985 his activity at the ICC. The seat was canceled on January 1, 1986. He then worked for the Keesal, Young and Logan law firm in Long Beach until his retirement in 2003 .

Reese Taylor Jr. was married several times. In 1948 he married Lucille Langdon. With her he had four children, Reese Taylor III, Stuart, Anne and Lucille. The marriage ended in divorce in 1958. He then had a brief marriage to actress Mari Blanchard in 1960 before marrying actress Juli Reding in 1962 . This marriage ended in divorce in 1964. In 1972 he married Jolene Yerby.

Web links

• Minutes of the Senate nomination hearing on June 9, 1981
• Obituary in the Las Vegas Review Journal
• Obituary in TransportTopics