When his father lost the family farm in Barons, Alta., Don Taylor was only two years old. It was a devastating event for the family, but it also inspired in Taylor a lifelong commitment to be his own boss and to give back to his community.
After earning his BSc and MSc in civil engineering at the University of Alberta, he started his career at the Canadian Western Natural Gas Company, but in 1966 he left to take on the presidency of Engineered Air, a struggling heating, ventilation and air conditioning company in Calgary. Still in his early 30s and without any formal business training, Taylor says that he had to rely on instinct when he took the challenge of turning the company around.
His instincts proved spot on. Over the following decades, Taylor became widely recognized as a pioneer in the HVAC industry and Engineered Air became an international leader, recognized for its high manufacturing standards and leading-edge innovation. Under Taylor’s leadership, the company never turned in an unprofitable quarter and grew to more than 2,000 employees with hundreds of millions in annual sales.
Along the way, he never forgot the importance of community and helping those in need, and Taylor and his family became passionate about funding education, health, history and arts initiatives in Alberta and throughout Canada. He established the Taylor Family Foundation in 2011—the same year he was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. He was promoted to Officer of the Order in 2015.
Here, Taylor shares how his family values—along with promises he made to a dentist and a doctor—shaped his career and his philosophy of giving.
How did your early years affect your view of the world?
I grew up in Calgary in a very low-income environment. Actually, it was a boarding house, and my mother ran it. When I got to Grade 12, thinking about university, I had tried my best to save enough money to afford to go there, because my parents weren’t really in a position to support me. With a modest amount of money, I did enrol [at the University of Alberta in Edmonton] and started engineering.
I had to promise that when I was in a position to do so, I would give back to others.
The first problem I ran across was when I was given a medical at the university. They discovered that I had a number of cavities in my teeth and told me that I’d have to get them repaired and corrected to continue my education. In desperation, I went to [the dentist] and explained that I didn’t have money, and he told me he would fix them for me. I had to promise that when I was in a position to do so, I would give back to others. I made that promise to him.
Then, when I was married and entering my master’s degree at school, my wife had a medical condition. The doctor told me my wife would have to have surgery, and I explained to him I didn’t have the money. This was before Medicare. He extracted the same promise from me—that someday down the line I’d have to repeat by sharing some of my wealth. And so, I honoured that promise.
How did your parents’ experiences inform your outlook?
They strongly believed in an ethic of honesty, integrity and keeping your word. And so, when I was able to start to share some of the money I made with my business, I tried to fulfill that promise. And I discovered that I enjoyed sharing my wealth. I was richer and derived pleasure from it. So, I could just continue doing that along the way.
I discovered that I enjoyed sharing my wealth. I was richer and derived pleasure from it.
I’d always had the ambition to be in business for myself. My dad was a farmer and although he lost the farm, he always instilled the importance of being your own boss. And so, I had that as a goal in life, and I learned how to apply gas to industrial heating processes at the gas company. [Engineered Air] had started up and was in some financial trouble, and the bank brought me in to try to turn it around. From there, we had some success at the start, correcting some major problems that the company had, and with the help a lot of other people. We’re talking about a time in the late ’60s and into the ’70s when we didn’t have the same kind of investment or infrastructure we have now.
How has that business landscape changed over the past 50 years?
I think today it takes a lot more capital than I was able to scrape together to start a business. But there’s no question, there are lots of opportunities for individuals who want to start an enterprise. If you look at some of the dot-com companies and the computer companies and everything, those gentlemen started with very little and were able to bootstrap themselves to great wealth. I think there’s lots of opportunity for a young person that has the initiative. I didn’t have any formal business training, but it was just something that I kind of knew from the basic instincts of honesty and hard work.
Do you think your parents’ experiences affected you more than you might have known at the time?
My mother worked very hard after my dad lost the farm. There’s no question that she probably worked very hard when she was on the farm as well. My dad, after he lost the farm, was kind of a lost soul. He never managed to gain any type of financial success afterward. But my mother, with the boarding house, managed to save enough money that they were able to live through retirement with some degree of dignity. And they certainly, I guess, were an inspiration to me for trying to be successful.
I’d encourage young people to get to know their roots a lot better than I ever did.
One of the great regrets I have in life is that I didn’t spend time to find out what my family went through when they came here in 1912. I wish that I had learned a lot more about what my mother and father went through to bring me to into being. I carry that regret on my shoulders to this day, and I’d encourage any young person to get to know their roots a lot better than I ever did.
There’s no doubt my parents had a strong influence on me, but I would have liked to have known about what their life was like. I was two years old when my parents lost the farm. I have no memories of that part of their life. They were rather reluctant to talk about it.
How have other strong women in your life been inspiring to you?
I’ve had two wives. Both of them have been very supportive of the fact that I got up early and went to work.
My first wife, she looked after the family and raised my children, because I was certainly an absentee those days. I was working very long hours, working weekends, didn’t have much time to spend at home and be with my children, so that responsibility fell on her shoulders, and she did a marvelous job.
My second wife has saved my life. She has collaborated in directing my efforts in philanthropy, but most significantly she has taught me how to balance my interactions with family and friends and to always be conscious of personal health issues.
When did the idea of giving back really start to flourish for you?
I guess when I decided to establish the foundation. I was told that I had to define the areas that we would support, and also the basic tenet of the foundation itself. And so, I used the phrase ‘a hand up and not a handout.’ We tried to follow that principle within the foundation. We picked four areas that we intended to support: education, health, history and the arts. With the exception of a few minor gifts, we’ve kept our donations to those areas.
Which of those philanthropic initiatives really stands out for you?
Well, I’ve always been a Calgarian. I believe in supporting my community—it’s where I’ve lived, and it’s given me this living. I strongly believe that if you made your money in the community, you should—if you’re able to—certainly try to share some of your wealth to support that community. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. I’ve wanted to demonstrate to others in our community that I was prepared to share some of my wealth, and I hoped that would be a catalyst for others in a similar financial position to consider doing the same.
As far as the family itself is concerned, I’ve done my best, and I think I’ve done a good job of endowing that commitment on behalf of my family. I’m sure that after I pass, my son, my grandson and my great-grandchildren—I’m going to be a great-grandfather in a few months—will continue.
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