Jeffrey S. Taylor
Jeffrey S. Taylor, a real estate developer and the mayor in Chatham Township, N.J., for eight years, died on Oct. 18 at home in East Hampton. He was 11 days shy of his 70th birthday and suffered a heart attack in his sleep.
Mr. Taylor’s participation in civic life in Chatham was notable. He served as a member of the town committee for 10 years before becoming mayor, built low-income housing, handled a severe waste management crisis, and brokered the conversion of an abandoned elementary school into a municipal building. He also served as a trustee of the Chatham Township Volunteer Fire Department and as technical adviser to the Children’s Institute, a school for children at risk.
“He was absolutely brilliant and could look at something, digest it, and be able to be right on point about dealing with it,” his wife, Linda Edythe Taylor, said. “That made him a successful politician and businessman.”
As a developer, Mr. Taylor worked with several shopping malls and maintained partnerships with Sage Realty, Lincoln Properties, Olympia and York, London and Leeds, and Rockefeller Center. He also was a consultant for the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital and the City of Springfield, Mass.
He was born on Oct. 29, 1945, in East Orange, N.J., to James Taylor and the former Beverly Kurtzman. He attended the Governor’s Academy in South Byfield, Mass., graduating in 1963, and earned a degree in history from Princeton University in 1969 and an M.B.A. from New York University in 1972.
He and his wife were married in 1969. They had met at a mutual friend’s sweet-sixteen birthday party in East Hampton several years earlier. While making Chatham Township their year-round home, they were frequent visitors to East Hampton, where Mr. Taylor’s family had owned a house for more than 50 years. The couple moved to East Hampton part time in 2006 and settled here full time in May.
Mr. Taylor was a member of the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett and the International Council of Shopping Centers, among other organizations. He loved 16-millimeter movies, and amassed a collection of about 250, including films by Busby Berkeley and those starring Frank Sinatra or Gene Kelly.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sons, Jonathan Taylor of Hamburg, N.J., and Chris Taylor of East Hampton, and two grandchildren. Burial will be private, and a memorial will be planned for the spring. Memorial donations in Mr. Taylor’s name have been suggested to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 18 James Lane, East Hampton 11937.