Taylor was born on March 15, 1884, in the Lower West Side of Manhattan, of Irish-American parentage.
[2] In 1912, Taylor was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Democrat, representing the Kings County 3rd District.
He established a municipal employment bureau, helped expedite the processing of old-age assistance, and set up the home relief system.
He resigned in 1934, when Fiorello La Guardia became mayor of New York City, and worked for Todd Shipyards as assistant to the president.
In 1938, he was appointed a Commissioner of the Port of New York Authority, a post he'd serve for the next ten years, and became president of the American Merchant Marine Institute.
He also served as chief negotiator for Eastern shipping operators with sea-going unions for many years, and was chairman of the Merchant Marine Committee of the Whole until he retired in 1952.