Frederick Southgate Taylor

Frederick Southgate Taylor (December 16, 1847–February 16, 1896), was a businessman, politician, philanthropist, and founder of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

His father, the Honorable Tazewell Taylor, was the bursar of The College of William and Mary until his death in 1850. Taylor grew up in and around Norfolk, Virginia. Tradition states that he served in the Confederate Army, but no permanent record exists within his family.

After receiving his A.B. degree from William and Mary, Taylor entered the University of Virginia in the Autumn of 1867. Taylor stayed at 47 West Range (part of The Range) until 1869, studying pre-law.

On Sunday evening March 1, 1868, at 47 West Range, Pi Kappa Alpha was founded by Frederick Southgate Taylor, his cousin and roommate Littleton Waller Tazewell Bradford, two of Tazewell's fellow Virginia Military Institute cadets then studying medicine at Virginia, James Benjamin Sclater Jr. and Julian Edward Wood, another medical student Robertson Howard, and finally business student William C. Alexander. It is generally indicated and accepted that Taylor was the inspiration behind the founding of Pi Kappa Alpha. He gave the fraternity its name and motto.

Upon graduation Taylor continued to study law but never practiced it as a profession. He devoted himself primarily to commercial enterprises and politics, amassing a small fortune through real estate. He married Anna Brooke; they had a daughter and four sons.

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