Herbert J. Taylor was a business executive, civic leader and sponsor of Christian organizations who belonged to the United States of America. Taylor co-founded the Christian Workers Foundation (CWF) in 1939. He served on the boards of several such institutions as: Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is an inter-denominational, evangelical Christian, student-led ministry which for the past 70 years has been dedicated to establishing witnessing communities on U.S. college and university campuses...

 (U.S.A.), Youth for Christ

Youth for Christ

Youth for Christ is the name of a number of previously unaffiliated evangelical Protestant religious campaigns which led to the creation of Youth for Christ International in 1946....

, Young Life

Young Life

YoungLife is a worldwide, non-profit, Evangelical Christian organization. YoungLife consists of many branches of ministry , but most commonly the name "YoungLife" refers to the outreach arm of the organization directed toward high school students...

, Fuller Seminary, Child Evangelism Fellowship

Child Evangelism Fellowship

Child Evangelism Fellowship is an international evangelical nonprofit organization founded by Jesse Overholtzer in 1937, headquartered in Warrenton, Missouri, United States. The organization lists as its purpose to teach the Christian Gospel to boys and girls and to get them involved in local...

, Christian Service Brigade

Christian Service Brigade

Christian Service Brigade is a non-denominational Christian organization for men and boys in the United States and Canada. Often referred to as "Brigade," it is organized according to a model historically similar to that of international Boys Brigade and Scouting organizations...

, Pioneer Girls, and the Greater Chicago Billy Graham Crusades . He was vice-chairman of the Price Adjustment Board of the War Department during World War II; the other positions he held were the presidency of Rotary International

Rotary International

Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...

, 1954–55; directorship positions for the First National Bank of Barrington (Illinois) and the Chicago Federal Savings and Loan Association; and membership on the Board of Governors of the Illinois Crippled Children Society, 1941-42. Taylor also authored "The Four Way Test" "The Ten Marks of a Good Citizen" "The Twelve Marks of a True Christian" and "God Has A Plan For You". He has been inducted into the American National Business Hall of Fame

American National Business Hall of Fame

The American National Business Hall of Fame , established in 1972, as the result of an idea by Willard F. Rockwell, Jr. and Alan Hilburg...

. He featured on the cover of Newsweek

Newsweek

Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

's February 28, 1955 issue.

A Methodist, he and his wife had two daughters, Gloria Beverly and Romona Estellene. He lived in Park Ridge, Illinois

Park Ridge, Illinois

-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 37,775 people, 14,219 households, and 10,465 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,374.6 people per square mile . There were 14,646 housing units at an average density of 2,083.8 per square mile...

. Herbert Taylor died on 1 May 1978. At the time of his death he was Chairman of board emeritus of Club Aluminium Products Inc.

The Four-Way Test

In the early 1930s Taylor set out to save the Club Aluminum Products distribution company from bankruptcy. He believed himself to be the only person in the company with 250 employees who had hope. His recovery plan started with changing the ethical climate of the company. He explained

Adoption of the test by Rotary

In 1940s, when Taylor was an international director of Rotary, he offered the Four Way Test to the organization, and it was adopted by Rotary for its internal and promotional use. Never changed, the twenty four word Four Way Test remains today a central part of the permanent Rotary structure throughout the world, and is held as the standard by which all behaviour should be measured. The Four Way Test has been promoted around the world and is used in myriad forms to encourage personal and business ethical practices. Taylor gave Rotary International the right to use the test in the 1940s and the copyright in 1954. He retained the rights to use the test for himself, his Club Aluminum Company and the Christian Workers Foundation.