Edward Curtis Taylor, Jr. was an eminent American chemist and academic whose research led to significant advancements in the field of medicinal chemistry. Born in 1923, Taylor pursued his higher education at Cornell University, where he conducted his doctoral studies from 1946 to 1949 under the supervision of Professor Cornelius Cain. Throughout his long career as an educator and researcher, Taylor was highly regarded for his mentorship, ultimately training 187 PhD students and fostering the next generation of scientific researchers.\n\nTaylor is most widely recognized for designing and synthesizing the chemotherapy drug pemetrexed, commercially known as Alimta. Developed with grant support from the United States National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health, this drug serves as an inhibitor of purine biosynthesis. The impact of Taylor's work extended far beyond the laboratory; the royalties generated from the drug by Eli Lilly & Company and paid to Princeton University were so substantial that, by 2009, they completely financed the construction of a massive, state-of-the-art 263,000-square-foot chemistry laboratory building. Taylor passed away in 2017, leaving behind a profound legacy in both cancer therapeutics and academic chemistry.
