6410 South Dante Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: 773-324-1020      Fax: 773-359-0506
 

MAN OF THE YEAR AWARDED TO MATT TAYLOR '57

Congratulations to Matt Taylor '57 on being awarded Mount Carmel Man of the Year at the 81st Annual Alumni Banquet. To read more about Matt's life and accomplishments. Click here to read more...
Matt entered Mount Carmel in September of 1953, coming from St. Peter and Paul in South Chicago, and graduated in 1957. After graduation, he spent the next eight years in the hospitality business. He was Chief Room Clerk at the Palmer House Hotel at the age of 20 and was on the inauguration team for the opening of The Abbey on Lake Geneva. Returning to Chicago, he was Assistant Manager of 50th on the Lake and then the Front Office Manager of the Pick-Congress hotel, where he met the lovely Nancy Kerwin, who became his wife in 1965.

Nancy was raised in the Visitation parish and is a member of the 1962 class of Mercy High School. They will be celebrating 52 years of marriage this next September. After their daughter Mary was born, they decided that they did not want to raise a family in an industry that was 365/24/7. 

Changing careers, he became a salesman for an office machine dealer, selling adding machines and calculators from Remington Rand. In 1972, he and Nancy started Taylor Business Equipment, which is still in business, now owned by Nancy and Mary. Over the years, the business has sold and serviced office machines from Remington Rand, Casio, IBM, Samsung, Marchant and Xerox, and are currently considered one of the premier Xerox dealers in the Chicago area. During his time in the industry, Matt was very involved in the Business Technology Association (BTA), their industry trade association. Besides serving a three-year term as a National Director, he served all executive board positions with the regional and local BTA chapters. Matt also served on the convention committee for all three BTA’s, and he was also the lead instructor for the BTA Value Seminar, traveling around the country quarterly, presenting this dealer training program. He and Nancy were awarded the COUPLE OF THE YEAR by the Chicago BTA chapter in 1982.

Matt and Nancy have resided in the Beverly area since 1971 in the Christ the King Parish. He was President of the Board for the Maple/Morgan Park Community Food Pantry, serving Chicago zip codes 60643 and 60655, from 1981 to 2015, when medical issues caused him to retire. The Pantry is a ministry of the Beverly/Morgan Park Community of Churches and the Maple/Morgan Park Ministerial Alliance. During his tenure, the Pantry was presented with awards from the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation. 

Matt has been involved in the Mount Carmel Alumni Association since 1968, first serving on the Banquet Committee and then joining the Board of Directors in 1970, where he has served all executive positions and as Banquet Chairman. He is the class captain for 1957 and writes the 1957 column in CARMEL LIFE. He led the committees for his 25 year, 50 year and 60 year reunions. He is a member of the Mount Carmel Hall of Fame and the City of Chicago Senior Citizen Hall of Fame and he has been awarded the Mount Carmel Fr. Ambrose Couglan Humanitarian of the Year in 2007. Tonight’s banquet will welcome the 8th member of the class of 1957 into the Mount Carmel Hall of Fame and will have the 7th member of the class being name Man of the Year.


Back



MOUNT CARMEL
HIGH SCHOOL

Living with Zeal for God, for Life, for Learning