S. (Sydney) Mark Taper (25 December 1901 – 15 December 1994) was a Polish-born British-American real estate developer, financier and philanthropist in London and Southern California. His 1962 gift to the Los Angeles Music Center resulted in the Mark Taper Forum being named for him in 1967.[1]
Mark Taper | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sydney Mark Taper 25 December 1901 |
| Died | 15 December 1994 (aged 92) |
| Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Amelia Lewis (–1958) Roberta Gale (1962) |
| Children | 3; including Carolyn Mary Kleefeld |
Early and personal life edit
Mark Taper was born on 25 December 1902 in a region of Poland, then part of the Russian Empire to Benjamin Taper, a tailor (b. 1881, Russia, d. 1963, London) and Rebecca (nee Rothfarb, b. 1882, Russia) and raised in England,[2] where he had immigrated with his parents at a young age and would live for 36 years. His family was Jewish.[3]
Taper married Amelia Lewis (1909, London, England – 1958, Los Angeles), the daughter of Louis A. Lewis, a furrier in London, and Florence (nee Hobinstock). She was an illustrator for London Vogue. The couple had three children, born in South London.[4] Lewis died in 1958 of "acute pulmonary edema and congestion due to acute alcohol intoxication" at the family home in Beverly Hills and was buried at Hillside Memorial Park.
In 1962, Taper married actress Roberta Gale (1914-2008); the marriage lasted eight months.
Career edit
Taper opened five shoe stores in England. In 1926, at the age of 25, he was able to retire. From 1929, he instead began successfully investing and developing innovations in real estate and house building. One of his more famous projects in the 1930s was a prestigious development he created in Brockley, Southeast London, whereby Taper named one street Millmark Road (now Millmark Grove) in honor of his wife, (nicknamed Milly) in a portmanteau with his own name, and another Barrydale (now Barriedale) for his young son, Barry.[2] By the late 1930s, Taper had retired and moved his family to Long Beach, California, becoming an American citizen.[2]
During Southern California's postwar housing boom, Taper founded Biltmore Homes and began building suburban housing for returning soldiers in Long Beach, Norwalk, Compton and Lakewood. In all, he built 35,000 houses for low and middle-income people as part of some of the largest housing projects in the U.S.[5] Taper also founded the First Charter Financial Corporation of Beverly Hills, parent of American Savings and Loan. In 1949 he partnered with Louis Boyar and Ben Weingart to acquire 3500 acres of agricultural land near Long Beach, The group formed the Lakewood Park Company and with financing from Prudential Insurance, built 17,000 affordable homes in the new community of Lakewood, California. The group built the Lakewood Center in 1953, and two years later Lakewood was the largest planned city in the United States.[6]
Philanthropy edit
Taper financed the first gallery for modern works at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a memorial to his wife, Amelia, who died in 1958, and was a major donor to the University of California at Los Angeles.[1]
Mark and Amelia Taper devoted much of their time to transporting hundreds of Catholic and Jewish children out of Nazi Germany. The S. Mark Taper Foundation was established in 1952 as a family foundation, and remains active in philanthropic giving, including funding the S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.[5]
Death and legacy edit
Taper died suddenly from a heart attack on 15 December 1994 in his Beverly Hills, California, home.[2] He was buried next to his wife in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
As part of the 2007-2008 renovations, the auditorium of the Mark Taper Forum was named the Amelia Taper Auditorium after a $2 million gift from the S. Mark Taper Foundation.[7][8]
References edit
- ^ a b "S. Mark Taper, 92; California Financier Gave to the Arts". New York Times. 17 December 1994. p. 24. ProQuest 429990823.
- ^ a b c d "Mark Taper, Financier and Philanthropist, Dies at 92". Los Angeles Times. 16 December 1994. p. A1. ProQuest 1973851207.
- ^ Oliver, Myrna (16 December 1994). "Mark Taper, Financier and Philanthropist, Dies at 92 : Charity: Music Center theater bears his name. He also gave large donations to the county art museum and UCLA". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Zakian, Michael (2008). "Carolyn Mary Kleefeld: The Artist and Her Life". Carolyn Mary Kleefeld: Visions from Big Sur. Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University. pp. 4–7. ISBN 978-1-882705-07-8. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Birth of a City". Time Magazine. 17 April 1950. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ^ Thackrey, Ted (23 December 1980). "Ben Weingart, 92, Philanthropist, Financier, Dies". Los Angeles Times. p. OC_A1. ProQuest 163011117.
- ^ "S. Mark Taper Foundation Gift Names Amelia Taper Auditorium at Music Center's Mark Taper Forum". Los Angeles Music Center (Press release). 3 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
- ^ "Taper Forum adds a Taper". Los Angeles Times. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2013.