David Saylor (M.I.D. '69) has had a flair for arranging space for as long as he can remember. "As an only child, I was very good at entertaining myself," recalled Saylor. "I spent hours conceiving buildings and drawing house plans."
When Saylor was in high school, his father, well aware of Saylor's passion for design, gave him a T-square, several triangles, and a drafting board. That was the beginning of his parents' lifetime interest in and support of Saylor's design aspirations and career.
To help give other young people the encouragement and financial support that Saylor felt so fortunate to have had from his parents, he established the David Saylor Scholarship for Design at Pratt Institute on June 9, 2011, which also coincided with his parents' wedding anniversary. Saylor recently made an additional commitment in the form of a bequest to Pratt that will create an endowment for the scholarship, ensuring that it will benefit Pratt industrial and interior design students in perpetuity.
"I had to stretch a bit to establish the scholarship, but it was important for me that the awards have a significant impact on students' lives," said Saylor. "It's particularly gratifying that it will be endowed through the planned gift."
By supporting students in both industrial and interior design studies, the David Saylor Scholarship for Design reflects Saylor's natural design abilities and love of space, which he has combined in his interior design career. The scholarship also extends Saylor's work as a design professor in the University of Wisconsin system, where he began teaching after graduating from Pratt. In 1977, Saylor launched his own firm, David Saylor Designer Inc., which has provided design and space planning services for commercial and residential clients across the United States. The business expanded dramatically and, in 1982, Saylor left academia to focus full-time on his design work. Yet he's never lost sight of the role that higher education plays in young people's lives.
"My parents were intent on ensuring I had the best possible education," said Saylor. "Making a bequest to Pratt is a wonderful way to perpetuate their legacy of support."