Enterprise Rent-A-Car Founder Jack Taylor Dies at 94

ST. LOUIS — Jack Taylor, who started a leasing company with seven cars and built it into Enterprise Rent-A-Car, died Saturday. He was 94.

Enterprise said in a statement that Taylor died in St. Louis after a brief illness.

In 1957, Taylor founded a company called Executive Leasing at a Cadillac dealership in St. Louis where he was a salesman. The chain differed from competitors by allowing people to pick up and drop off cars away from airports. An Enterprise employee would drive to the customer's house or office.

The company bought the Alamo and National brands in 2007 to compete against other airport-based rentals. It changed its name to Enterprise Holdings Inc. two years later.

The privately held company said it had revenue of $19.4 billion and more than 1.7 million vehicles in 2015. Enterprise's reported revenue is more than twice that of either of its two main U.S. competitors, Hertz and Avis.

Forbes magazine listed Taylor as the 248th richest person, with wealth of $5.3 billion in the magazine's 2016 ranking.

"My father took a simple idea and created a great company," his son, Andrew C. Taylor, said in the company statement. Andrew Taylor is Enterprise Holdings' current executive chairman.

Taylor also served in the Navy during World War II and named his company for the U.S.S. Enterprise.