April 19, 2000 Widow of Marriott founder dead at 92 The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Alice Sheets Marriott, who began working at her husband's root beer stand and helped turn it into a global corporation, has died at age 92. Marriott International said Tuesday that Marriott, who lived in Washington, died Monday of natural causes at Georgetown University Medical Center. Marriott It was 1927 when she married J. Willard Marriott, a native of the Marriott Settlement near Ogden, and went to work as bookkeeper in a Washington root beer stand he had opened. A few months later, as weather cooled and business waned, Mrs. Marriott got recipes from the chef at the Mexican Embassy and began cooking spicy food. The stand was renamed The Hot Shoppe and became a chain that eventually grew to 100 stores in 11 states. The last one, in Marlow Heights, Md., closed in December. The Marriotts eventually branched out to other businesses, principally hotels, and Marriott today comprises five companies with combined annual sales of $20 billion. Mrs. Marriott was born in Salt Lake City on Oct. 19, 1907, and Was a graduate of the University of Utah. She was trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and did charitable work. She is survived by two sons, J.W. Marriott Jr. and Richard E. I Marriott, eight grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1985. 474