Vanderbilt Graduate Student Killed In Stabbing Attack In Israel Was ‘A Quiet Leader’

This story has been updated with more information about Taylor Force.

The dean of Vanderbilt University’s business school is calling 28-year-old Taylor Force as “a quiet leader.”

The West Point grad, who had served as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, was killed yesterday during a stabbing attack in Israel. He was there on a spring break trip with the Owen Graduate School of Management, helping to advise Israeli start-ups.

The school’s dean, M. Eric Johnson, said Force was the kind of student who spoke up in class only when he had something insightful to say.

“We really pride ourselves in leaders without egos, and that was Taylor,” he said. “With so much promise ahead of him, it’s devastating to see that cut short.”

This is the third year that the Owen Graduate School has organized a trip to Israel. Johnson says international business trips are a high priority for the school, and it evaluates the risks each year. 

Force and 28 other students were in the town of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, on Tuesday 
when a Palestinian attacker went on a stabbing rampage. The attack also injured a dozen Israelis.

It was close to where Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with former Israeli president Shimon
 Peres.

Stuart Force, Taylor’s father
, said his son was an avid skier and guitar player who loved horses and ranch life after a childhood in Texas.

“He really fit it all in,” Stuart Force said. “He lived really large.”