For the Idaho Senator

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

, see Glen H. Taylor

Glen H. Taylor

Glen Hearst Taylor was an American politician, businessman and United States Senator from Idaho. He was the vice presidential candidate on the Progressive Party ticket in the 1948 election. Taylor was otherwise a member of the Idaho Democratic Party...

.

Glen A. Taylor (born April 20, 1941) is an American businessman who is the majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor...

 basketball team, owner of the Minnesota Lynx

Minnesota Lynx

The Minnesota Lynx are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded prior to the 1999 season...

 WNBA basketball team, and a former member of the Minnesota Senate

Minnesota Senate

The Minnesota Senate is the upper house in the Minnesota Legislature. There are 67 members, half as many as are in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In terms of membership, it is the largest upper house of any state legislature. Each Senate district in the state includes an A and B House...

.

Biography

Taylor grew up on a farm in Comfrey, Minnesota

Comfrey, Minnesota

For the plant, see ComfreyComfrey is a city in Brown and Cottonwood counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 382 at the 2010 census...

. He graduated from Comfrey High School in 1959, and received a B.S. from Minnesota State University, Mankato

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Minnesota State University, Mankato is a public four-year university located in Mankato, Minnesota, a community of 53,000 located southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul. As of Fall 2011, the student body is the third-largest in the state of Minnesota with over 15,000 students...

 in 1962. In 1982 he participated in an executive education program for business owners and presidents at Harvard Business School.

During and after college, he worked at Carlson Wedding Service (later Carlson Craft), a Mankato print shop specializing in formal invitations. When the company's owner was looking to retire, Taylor offered to pay $2 million over the course of 10 years for the company. This purchase (which he paid off early) formed the basis for the Taylor Corporation, based in North Mankato, Minnesota

North Mankato, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 11,798 people, 4,744 households, and 3,178 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,502.5 people per square mile . There were 5,046 housing units at an average density of 1,070.3 per square mile...

.

Taylor was a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 Minnesota State Senator from 1981 to 1990, serving as assistant minority leader from 1983 to 1985 and Minority Leader from 1985 to 1987.

Taylor purchased majority ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor...

 basketball team in 1994. Taylor purchased the Minnesota Lynx

Minnesota Lynx

The Minnesota Lynx are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded prior to the 1999 season...

 WNBA basketball team in 1999. Taylor was in talks to buy the Minnesota Twins but nothing has come of it. In 2005, he was also rumored to be a possible buyer for the Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

, but was outbid by Zygi Wilf. He is currently the chairman of the Board of Governors for the NBA.

Taylor is also founder, chairman, and CEO of Taylor Corporation, a privately held

Privately held company

A privately held company or close corporation is a business company owned either by non-governmental organizations or by a relatively small number of shareholders or company members which does not offer or trade its company stock to the general public on the stock market exchanges, but rather the...

 multinational company

Multinational corporation

A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...

 in the printing

Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....

 and electronics

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

 businesses with more than 15,000 employees.

Taylor has been ranked No. 149 on the Forbes 400

Forbes 400

The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...

 and his company No. 254 on Forbes ranking of private United States corporations. His net worth

Net worth

In business, net worth is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' preference and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular year in time...

was reported by Forbes to be $2.7 billion in 2007.