Alice Sheets Marriott, 92, the co-founder of the Marriott Corp. with her husband, J. Willard Marriott, died April 17 in Washington D.C.
Mrs. Marriott and her husband, who died in 1985, began business in 1927 with a nine-stool root beer stand that later evolved into the Marriott Corp., one of the world's top hospitality companies. There now are five separate companies with a total yearly sales of more than $20 billion.Mrs. Marriott's oldest son, J.W. Marriott, Jr., is chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott International, Inc., and her other son, Richard E. Marriott, is chairman of Host Marriott Corp.
U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said Mrs. Marriott's death was like that of a close relative. "Bill and Allie Marriott were among my parents' closest friends when my father (U.S. Sen. Wallace F. Bennett) first went to Washington in 1951," Bennett said. "All Utahns can be proud of the hugely significant contributions she and her husband made to both the state and the world at large. I extend my most sincere condolences to the family."
Mrs. Marriott was born in Salt Lake City in 1907. She graduated with honors at age 19 from the University of Utah with a degree in Spanish. Two days later, she married J. Willard Marriott, and the couple moved to Washington and started the root beer stand.
Mrs. Marriott first served as bookkeeper. Cool autumn weather dampened the demand for root beer, so Mrs. Marriott used her fluency in Spanish to consult a chef at the Mexican Embassy for recipes for chili con carne and hot tamales. The spicy food transformed the stand into The Hot Shoppe, which later became a chain of 65 restaurants.
Along with her corporate responsibilities, Mrs. Marriott was active in several civic, charitable and cultural organizations.
Mrs. Marriott received an honorary doctorate of human letters from the University of Utah in 1974.
Mrs. Marriott and her family donated a good deal of money to educational institutions. Endowments have funded construction of the Alice Sheets Marriott Center for Dance at the University of Utah, as well as the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.
Funeral will be at the Chevy Chase Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chevy Chase, Md., on Thursday.