On what BYU Pres. Jeffrey R. Holland called "a blue-letter day" - evidently an oblique reference to the school color - he announced Oct. 28, that the School of Management would be named in honor of the late J. Willard Marriott and his widow, Alice Sheets Marriott.
In a formal gathering in the N. Eldon Tanner Building on the campus, President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency, represented the BYU Board of Trustees in giving remarks and unveiling a plaque bearing the words: "J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott School of Management, 1988." The plaque will be placed in the Tanner Building along with pencil sketches of the two Marriotts.Pres. Holland also announced a gift of $15 million from the J. Willard Marriott Foundation to the school of management. The foundation has challenged the school's National Advisory Council to match the grant through fund-raising efforts.
Delivering remarks at the announcement program were Paul H. Thompson, dean of the school of management, and Ted D. Simmons, National Advisory Council chairman. Richard E. Marriott, one of the Marriott's two sons and vice chairman of the Marriott Corp. board of directors, delivered the family response.
The Marriott's other son, J. Willard Marriott Jr., chief executive officer and board chairman of the corporation, was also present, as were other family members and a number of the General Authorities of the Church.
Later that evening, J. Willard Marriott Jr. represented the family at the BYU International Executive of the Year dinner, at which his father was honored posthumously as the 1988 recipient.
"It is a singular and wonderful thing Allie Marriott and Dick and Bill are doing here," President Hinckley remarked at the announcement program. "Through their generosity they make it more possible for this unique and tremendous school of management to stand on a higher plane, to achieve greater prominence, and for its graduates to step into the world of commerce for which they have been trained."
In his remarks, Richard E. Marriott gave an entertaining account of how his parents started their married life, eventually achieving success and prosperity in the hotel and catering industry. He mentioned that his father opened a tiny A&W Root Beer franchise in Washington, D.C., and that at the suggestion of Alice Marriott, they converted it into the Hot Shoppe restaurant when the weather turned cold and root beer sales diminished.
He said his father had no money to take his new bride from Salt Lake City to Washington because the employer for whom he had worked selling long underwear to logging camps defaulted on his pay.
Sister Marriott's mother saved the day, Richard recounted, by canceling the wedding reception and giving the newlyweds the money it would have cost.
Thompson, school of management dean, said the institution strives for strength in three basic areas: entrepreneurship, international business and ethics.
The school includes the BYU College of Business and the Graduate School of Management, which enroll about 4,700 undergraduate and graduate students. Last year, 62.3 percent of the students were bilingual - due in large measure to their experience on Church missions. The percentage was even higher, 79.6 percent, for master's degree candidates.
The Marriott family has supported many philanthropic causes. The family's monetary support has made possible the Marriott Center on the BYU campus and the Marriott Library on the University of Utah campus.