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Allie and Billy in 1936.

The Marriott family, around 1950. Bill (standing), Dick, J.W., and Allie.

The historic mansion at Fairfield Farm in Virginia.

Christmas 1954 at Fairfield Farm with the Eisenhowers. Ezra Taft Benson is on the left.

Marriott newspaper article announcing Bill Marriott’s election as president of the company in 1964.

The extended Marriott family, around 1964.

Dale Evans and Roy Rogers join Bill to open the first Roy Rogers restaurant in 1968.

Bill and Donna and their four children.

Celebrating the opening of Marriott’s 100th hotel, in Maui.

With President Ronald Reagan aboard Air Force One in 1982.

With former president Gerald Ford at opening of Rancho Las Palmas Marriott in 1987.

Bill and Donna with President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, at the inaugural ball in January 1989.

Bill and Dick with former president Jimmy Carter at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

This iconic portrait of J.W. and Bill hung in Marriott lobbies for many years.

The boathouse in flames after Bill’s boat exploded with him aboard.

Bill in his “mummy bandages” following the explosion.

Bill beside a plaque at Camelback honoring his father.

Bill and Donna at President Bill Clinton’s inaugural ball in 1993 with Coretta Scott King,
with whom Bill worked closely for the successful creation of a national memorial in Washington, D.C.

9/11: The Marriott World Trade Center hotel is shown shortly before the World Trade Center buildings collapsed. As the south tower fell, it sliced the Marriott Hotel in half. Fourteen firemen and a Marriott guest were coming down the stairwell at the time. Less than half an hour later, the north tower collapsed and demolished the rest of the Marriott.
The crash of the second tower crushed the stairwell down to the third floor, but, miraculously, the survivors had just made it to the second-floor stairwell, which allowed them all to crawl out to safety.
Photo © New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images

Bill with President George W. Bush.

At this March 11, 2009, White House meeting with Barack Obama, Bill led the effort that successfully persuaded the newly elected president to make a strong statement the following day in favor of business travel to off-site locations for important meetings. This was pivotal in beginning a reverse of the devastating economic effects of the housing mortgage crisis on the hospitality industry.

Bill celebrating his sixty-fifth birthday at Camelback in 1997.