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J.W. Marriott Jr., who built the company his Utah parents started as a District of Columbia root beer stand into a global lodging giant, is stepping down as CEO, ending a storied 39-year run that ushered in a new class of dependable, middle-class hospitality for travelers around the region, the country and then the world.

The word "Marriott," in red letters on buildings from Maryland to Hong Kong, came to signify home for weary families making their way to Disney World, for traveling salesmen careening around the Midwest, and lately for weary road jockeys keeping pace with globalization.

In the process of building the 3,600-hotel empire, Marriott's family became one of the richest and best-known in the capital region and in Utah. The family and the firm donate millions every year to philanthropic efforts, particularly for the disabled.

The company's influence stretches beyond its hotels and its Bethesda, Md., headquarters. A host of former Marriott executives has run some of the largest hotel companies, including Hilton Worldwide, RLJ Lodging Trust, Choice Hotels and Host Hotels & Resorts.

Throughout the growth of his family's company and the industry, there was Mr. Marriott, as his devoutly loyal employees call him, espousing his family's simple maxim that if you take care of your employees, your employees will take care of your customers, and your customers will come back.

That philosophy still permeates the company, which is worth nearly $10 billion and employs 129,000 people, after countless nights of putting heads in beds. Arne Sorenson, Marriott's trusted lieutenant for more than a decade, will become chief executive in March, the first non-Marriott to run the company. J.W. Marriott, known as Bill, will become executive chairman.

"Bill Marriott is more than the grandfather of our industry," said Fred Malek, the company's former president and founder of an Annapolis hotel investment company. "He's been the pace-setter we've all wanted to measure up to. Nobody will ever replace Bill Marriott as the maestro of this industry."

Sorenson emerged as the likeliest successor after the CEO's second-oldest son, John, left the company in 2005 to run the family's investments.

"It's time to do this, and I'm happy to be turning over the company to Arne," Bill Marriott said. "The family has great trust and confidence in him."

Sorenson, 53, becomes just the third CEO in the firm's history. He joined the company's legal department in 1996, rising to become chief financial officer and then president.

Polished, well-spoken and unpretentious, often eschewing first-class travel for a seat in coach, Sorenson is the son of a Lutheran minister. He and Marriott, a devout Mormon, bonded over the years despite their age difference, with humble family values linking them.

That Marriott is stepping aside is in many ways not a surprise. He is about to turn 80, and though he still visits hundreds of hotels a year, where employees treat his arrival like that of a rock star, the pace of running a global chain is difficult even for a young man.

According to the company's website, Marriott's father, J. Willard Marriott, ventured from his native Utah and partnered with Hugh Colton to launch the nine-stool A&W root beer stand on May 20, 1927, that was a precursor to the family's hotel business.

Bill Marriott's move is likely to surprise and sadden employees at every rung of the organization who always assumed, only half in jest, that he would step down on the day he died, perhaps at his desk.

Tribune reporter Cathy McKitrick contributed to this story.