Canadian Financier Edward Plunkett Taylor, 88

Edward Plunkett Taylor, a brewer, builder and sportsman whose name was synonymous with big business in Canada, died Sunday in the Bahamas, it was announced Monday.

The flamboyant multimillionaire, who built an international empire from the ruins of a debt-ridden Ottawa brewery, was 88.

Taylor also established the racing stable that produced the great Northern Dancer and Nijinsky II.

He died nine years after suffering a debilitating stroke.

Taylor moved to the Bahamas in the early 1960s, saying the move was spurred by the weather and not the tax-free status he enjoyed there.

A monument to his financial zeal still stands--and grows--although it has been controlled by others for several years.

It is the giant Argus Corp., a closed-end investment fund that evolved into one of Canada’s most powerful and intricate corporate entities, with tentacles embracing billions of dollars worth of commercial and industrial assets. As long ago as 1972, when he resigned as Argus chairman, the conglomerate had assets of about $177 million while companies under his personal control had assets of $1.7 billion.

But it was in the breeding and racing of thoroughbred horses that the cherubic-faced, pipe-smoking owner of Windfields Farms in north Toronto became familiar.

In 1976, he was saluted as the first owner to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Epsom Derby, and was named the first recipient of Canada’s Man-of-the-Year Sovereign Award.

In 1964, Northern Dancer won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Queens Plate, Canada’s premiere racing event. His horses won the Queen’s Plate six times and its predecessor, the King’s Plate, twice.

To his countrymen he was the stereotypical flamboyant businessman, with a well-known philanthropic streak. His personal holdings were estimated at around $30 million.

Taylor was born in Ottawa in 1901 to a business-oriented family. After completing his university studies in Montreal, he joined the brokerage firm of McLeod, Young, Weir & Co. in Ottawa.

By 1930, he had formed the Brewing Co. of Canada by merging several smaller breweries. Over the years he bought more than 30 Canadian breweries which became Carling O’Keefe Ltd., one of Canada’s three largest brewers.