Alice Sheets Marriott (October 19, 1907 – April 17, 2000) was an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. She was married to

J. Willard Marriott John Willard Marriott Sr. (September 17, 1900 – August 13, 1985) was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the founder of the Marriott Corporation (which became Marriott International in 1993), the parent company of the world's la ...

, founder of the hospitality company

Marriott Corporation The Marriott Corporation was a Hospitality industry, hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993. It was founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, it opened its first hotel in Arlington Count ...

Early life and career

Marriott was born in Salt Lake City, the daughter of Alice Taylor and Edwin Spencer Sheets. She graduated with honors from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in 1927 at age 19. She was a member of

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to the area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of educa ...

Honor Society and

Chi Omega Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is an American women's collegiate fraternity. It was established in 1895 at the University of Arkansas. Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chapters. Since its founding in 18 ...

sorority. She married

in the

Salt Lake Temple The Salt Lake Temple is a Temple (LDS Church), temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the Comparison of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sa ...

on June 9, 1927. In 1927, Alice worked as a bookkeeper with her husband at a

root beer Root beer is a North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla; also used to make a soft drink called sarsaparilla) as the ...

stand they both started. After introducing a Mexican-themed menu, the stand was renamed The Hot Shoppe and several more were opened. Alice and her husband opened their first motel, the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel in Arlington, Va., in 1957. This one motel grew into a chain of Marriott hotels.

Later life and death

Marriott served two ten-year terms on the board of the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

. She was also vice-chairman of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

from 1965 to 1976, and honorary chairman of the 1973

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

inaugural committee. She died on April 17, 2000 at

Georgetown University Hospital MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...

at the age of 92.

Legacy

Marriott provided endowments to educational institutions. In 1988 she provided funds for the

Marriott School of Management The Marriott School of Business is the business school of Brigham Young University (BYU), a private university owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and located in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 189 ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

. The University of Utah opened the Alice Sheets Marriott Center for Dance, which houses the University's departments of Modern Dance and Ballet, on September 25, 1989.

Family

Marriott's mother Alice Taylor Sheets married U.S. Senator

Reed Smoot Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862February 9, 1941) was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A Republican who was first elected to the U.S. Senate by the Utah State Legislat ...

on 2 July 1930 after both of them had been widowed.http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/s/SMOOT,REED.html Utah History Encyclopedia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marriott, Alice 1907 births 2000 deaths Latter Day Saints from Utah American hoteliers Marriott International people University of Utah alumni American philanthropists Brigham Young University people Hotel founders American women company founders American women business executives American business executives Women hoteliers Latter Day Saints from Washington, D.C. Members of Phi Kappa Phi