J. Willard Marriott*
Class of 1974
- Founder & Chairman of the Board Marriott Corporation
Choose a career with a future, and then never give up-no matter what setbacks you encounter.
Willard Marriott was born in 1900 at Marriott Settlement, Utah, where he was raised on a sheep ranch. He worked on the ranch from the time he was a toddler, and, at age 13, he traveled alone by rail with a herd of 3,000 sheep to market in San Francisco. After earning an associate degree from Weber State University, Marriott attended the University of Utah and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1926.
In 1927, Marriott began an A&W Root Beer franchise in Washington, D.C. In 1928, he opened the first drive-in east of the Mississippi, incorporating the business as Hot Shoppes, Inc. Although Marriott was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1935, he lived another 50 years. In 1953, he took his restaurant chain public and, in 1957, expanded his business to hotels. The first was the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The company became Marriott, Inc. in 1967.
By the time he died, Marriott operated 1,400 restaurants and 143 hotels and resorts worldwide.