{"id":238456,"date":"2025-09-19T08:14:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238456\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T08:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:14:32","slug":"taylor-gandy-philanthropist-who-spearheaded-fort-worths-jfk-tribute-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238456\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Gandy, philanthropist who spearheaded Fort Worth\u2019s JFK Tribute, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taylor Gandy, a philanthropic champion for the arts in Fort Worth who, with his wife Shirlee, invested in preserving downtown landmarks and led efforts to build the JFK Tribute<\/a>, died Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.<\/a>, said Gandy was a close friend and partner. They met in 2003 when Gandy was on a search committee that led to Taft being hired by the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a light, an inspiration and a very positive influence among the Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. volunteers,\u201d Taft said. \u201cHe always came into the office with a smile and a warm word for the entire staff, and was always very encouraging of what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gandys invested in restoring historic downtown properties, including the Santa Fe Depot<\/a> and Ashton Hotel. They supported cultural arts for decades with their time, fundraising talents and their own money. Taylor Gandy served as president of what\u2019s now Arts Fort Worth<\/a> while also balancing his career as a lawyer.<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

Taylor and Shirlee Gandy standing near the historic Santa Fe Depot in downtown Fort Worth on June 22, 1999.<\/p>\n

The Gandys donated downtown land to Texas Wesleyan, the site that is now Texas A&M-Fort Worth. More recently, the Gandys spearheaded the effort to build the monument to President John F. Kennedy. The Gandys donated money to complete the 8-foot bronze statue of the president at the site where he gave a speech on Nov. 22, 1963, in front of what\u2019s now the Hilton Fort Worth. Kennedy was assassinated hours later in Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the right thing for Fort Worth,\u201d Taylor Gandy said when fundraising began in 2011. \u201cThe Fort Worth part of that day has been lost to history. It was a wonderful, uplifting morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gandy saw the president\u2019s motorcade that morning; he was a 27-year-old lawyer on his way to the courthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe found that to be a very inspirational moment for him,\u201d Taft said.<\/p>\n

\"Shirlee<\/p>\n

Shirlee and Taylor Gandy at the JFK Tribute in downtown Fort Worth in May 2015. The Gandys played a key role in fundraising for the memorial to the slain president\u2019s Fort Worth visit.<\/p>\n

Gandy was a grocer\u2019s son born in Meridian and raised in Valley Mills in Central Texas. He went to law school at the University of Texas while working nights as an accountant and janitor for the Red Cross. Upon graduating in 1962, he got a job at the Fort Worth firm Kerr, Day and Cook.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I enrolled my children in Tanglewood Elementary, I felt a part of the city,\u201d he told the Star-Telegram in 1988.<\/p>\n

Gandy had political aspirations \u2013 he served on the City Council from 1969 to 1973 \u2013 but the responsibilities of raising a family changed his mind.<\/p>\n

\"April<\/p>\n

April 10, 1969: Taylor Gandy, newly elected to the Fort Worth City Council, is seated third from the left. Others seated in the photo are, left to right, Ted C. Peters, Jess M. Johnson Jr. and W. S. (Watt) Kemble Jr.; standing are Ira Kersnick, Bill Sarsgard, Mayor R. M. (Sharkey) Stovall, Dr. Edward Guinn and Dr. Fred Rehfeldt.<\/p>\n

In 1993, Gandy stepped down from a partnership at Gandy, Michener, Swindle & Whitaker. He and banking attorney Bruce McGee started a smaller firm together.<\/p>\n

Taft said that Gandy was a savvy businessman but also had a big heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that I hope people know is that he was incredibly positive and very supportive, always had a good word, and always had Fort Worth\u2019s best interests in mind,\u201d Taft said.<\/p>\n

The Gandys have been dedicated supporters of UT Arlington, where Shirlee Gandy graduated. The couple has two endowments there: the Shirlee J. and Taylor Gandy First Generation Scholarship, and the Shirlee J. and Taylor Gandy Scholarship Endowment for Liberal Arts.<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

Taylor Gandy on Nov. 7, 2012, at the JFK Tribute in downtown Fort Worth ahead of the public opening. Gandy and his wife Shirlee helped lead efforts to build the monument on Main Street where President John F. Kennedy spoke outside the Hotel Texas on the morning of his assassination.<\/p>\n

Megan Henderson, director of events and communications for Near Southside Inc., echoed that the JFK Tribute was an important passion of the Gandys.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaylor could be as soft as a teddy bear and as spicy as a jalape\u00f1o,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cThe balance of his big personality was that you loved being in his company and always wanted him to be on your team.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great servant of the community, working hard with all he had to make the place better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Gandy, a philanthropic champion for the arts in Fort Worth who, with his wife Shirlee, invested in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":238457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,12047,7371,7372,127747,127745,13644,127746,127744,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-238456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-downtown-fort-worth","10":"tag-fort-worth","11":"tag-fortworth","12":"tag-gandy","13":"tag-jfk-tribute","14":"tag-president-john-f-kennedy","15":"tag-shirlee-gandy","16":"tag-taylor-gandy","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115229967369813183","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}