Taylor A. Borradaile
Taylor Albert Borradaile (May 15 1885–1977) was an American chemist and one of four founders and the first president of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.
Borradaile was born near Camden, Ohio into a prominent local Quaker family. He came to nearby Miami University where he became affiliated with a number of non-fraternity men who were attempting to overcome the political alliances of the campus fraternity men that dominated athletics, student government and other actities. He became the first president of the Non-Fraternity Association founded March 17, 1906. This organization evolved into Phi Kappa Tau fraternity which today has more than 80,000 members in chapters across the United States.
He began his career as a teacher in Tipp City, Ohio and later became involved in chemical sales in Florida, where he also studied law and was admitted to the Florida bar, without attending law school. In later years he was a chemist in government service in Charleston, West Virginia and he retired from the Veterans Administration as a chemist. He was an expert on poisons and was regularly hired as an expert witness in trials involving poisons.
Borradaile was not involved in the fraternity he founded for the early part of his life and did not attend a national convention of the fraternity until 1951, though he attended every convention from that time until his death. He was the longest living of the fraternity's four founders, outliving William H. Shideler by nearly 20 years.
[edit] References
- Anson, Jack L., The Golden Jubilee History of Phi Kappa Tau, Lawhead Press, Athens Ohio: 1957
- Ball, Charles T., From Old Main to a New Century: A History of Phi Kappa Tau, Heritage Publishers, Phoenix: 1996 ISBN 0-929690-29-X
