The following campaign biographies were distributed by the Taylor campaign during visits to New Hampshire in September 1995. The first appears as the last page of a larger glossy campaign brochure entitled "7 Reasons to Consider Morry Taylor for President." In this document, the biography is featured with the Taylor '96 logo, and a color photo of the candidate and his wife. The second biography is a single sheet flyer.
Morry Taylor was born 50 years ago in Detroit, and grew up in a small town in Michigan. He lettered in four sports in high school, attended Michigan Tech, and is a veteran of the US Army Reserves.
He is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Titan Wheel International, the nation's leading manufacturer of rims and wheels for farming and construction equipment. Embodying the American spirit, Morry began as a tool and die maker, was schooled as an engineer, and was hired by General Motors out of college. Morry later left GM, started his own company, and purchased a floundering wheel company from Firestone in 1983.
Since that time the company has flourished, and currently employs more than 3,000 American workers. Morry's primary strategy has been to purchase failing companies and to turn them around into productive, profitable operations.
Morry Taylor has run Titan Wheel International since 1983 when he and a partner purchased the firm from Firestone. The company and its predecessors have operated from more than 100 years from headquarters in Quincy, Illinois. Under Taylor's leadership, Titan became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994, and it has grown rapidly since. The firm expects income of about $625 million dollars in 1995. It has more than 3,000 employees nationwide.
Titan's expansion under Taylor's guidance has seen the acquisition of wheel operations in England and Italy, plus the 1994 purchase of a Pirelli tire plant in Des Moines, Iowa. All of Titan's acquisitions were losing money before Taylor and Titan turned their fortunes around.
Fortune Magazine has described Titan as being on "the fast track," noting that "it dominates its main markets." Investor's Business Daily says Taylor has been "deft at turning a series of acquisitions into a dominant position" (in its agriculture and construction markets). And the Des Moines Register quotes Iowa business leaders as saying that Titan "is growing by leaps and bounds and they clearly have a leader with the entrepreneurial spirit." In 1994, Titan was rated in the top one-half of one percent in sales and earnings growth among all companies publicly trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Born in Detroit 50 years ago, Taylor grew up in several small Michigan communities, finishing high school in Ellsworth in 1962. As a student he lettered in four varsity sports. After his secondary education, Taylor attended Michigan Tech, where he majored in mechanical engineering, and finished a stint in the U.S. Army Reserves in 1969.
After college, he briefly worked as a plant enginer with General Motors. Prior to forming Titan, he was a marketing and engineering consultant for various heavy equipment industries and a sales representative for a wheel manufacturer.
Taylor has been married to the former Michelle Callahan since 1975. They have three children and one granddaughter. The Taylors maintain homes in suburban Detroit, Florida, and Quincy, Illinois.