MR. TAYLOR C. COTTON JR. January 8, 1938 - July 27, 1996 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ADVOCATE Mr. Taylor Cotton was a nationally acknowledged expert on affirmative action, a leader in the construction industry and a primary founder and Executive Director of Black Contractors United (BCU), the nation's oldest and largest trade association of African American contractors. He was a tireless advocate and mentor for Black business owners and construction industry workers. Mr. Cotton served as Director of the Affirmative Action Department of the Chicago Urban League, where he worked for 22 years. As such, he administered training programs that resulted in the hiring of more than 6,000 women and minorities in construction and industrial jobs.

Mr. Cotton also monitored affirmative action compliance on 60 major projects with a combined value of over six billion dollars. These projects created more than 12,000 jobs for minorities and women and provided $1 billion in contract opportunities for minority businesses and another $210 million for women-owned enterprises. In 1979, Mr. Cotton led a group of Black contractors who successfully negotiated for two Black firms to build a portion of the Dearborn Park Homes project near Chicago's Loop. Members of that group went on to organize BCU. After Mr. Cotton retired from the Urban League in 1992 and later took the helm of BCU, Jewel Food Company honored him by creating a scholarship in his name.