Roosevelt "Rosie" Sterling, Longtime Bellman at Annapolis Marriott Waterfront
Rob Cibik
Longtime bellman at waterfront Marriott dies after 40 years of service
The Capital (Annapolis, MD)
By E.B. FURGURSON III
December 28, 2007
Roosevelt "Rosie" Sterling, a bellman who greeted guests with his
smile and some hustle for 40 years at the Annapolis Marriott
Waterfront at the foot of Ego Alley, died Christmas Eve at Georgetown
University Hospital after a battle with cancer. He was 64.
He served scores of state legislators, dignitaries and sailors,
whether weekend warriors or admirals, at the hotel he called home
since 1967.
Some said he was as much the image of the hotel as its prized
waterfront.
"I mean who doesn't know Rosie?" asked Vicki Chilcote, the hotel's
accounts receivable manager and a coworker of Mr. Sterling's for 25
years. "He is going to be missed ... he already is."
Concierge Maggie Paez, has worked at the hotel nearly as long as Mr.
Sterling, 34 years.
"Rosie was the hotel and the hotel was Rosie," Ms. Paez said. "He
cared deeply for his guests. It made him feel good to make someone
else feel good, to make someone else feel important.
We will remember him with a smile on our faces."
His daughter, Cynthia Sterling of Severn, said this morning he is
sorely missed.
"He was a wonderful dad," she said. "He was always there to help us.
If he didn't have a way he found a way."
He had an operation in the summer of 2006 in which cancer was
discovered. He had successful treatment, but the cancer returned.
Mr. Sterling returned to the hotel for its busiest time, the U.S. Boat
Shows in October.
"He kept pushing himself," Ms. Chilcote said. "He tried to keep it up.
But then had to go on disability."
Mr. Sterling had more energy than anyone in the hotel, and would run
circles around younger people on the job, she said.
And he did all that despite having lost a hand in his youth. The story
takes different twists by each telling, but his daughter said he was
teaching his sister to drive back in Rock Hill, S.C., and they hit a
telephone pole. Electrical wires fell on the car and in an attempt to
save his sister he grabbed the wire and was nearly electrocuted.
"He said he woke up two months later in the hospital," close friend
and coworker William Cook Sr. said. He lost his hand and was severely
scarred the rest of his life.
Mr. Sterling was not one to dwell on his physical misfortune. He used
a hook to replace his hand and often joked about it, his daughter and
co-workers said.
"Every time I asked my dad about his arm he told a different story,"
he said. "He was always joking."
Del. Mary Roe Walkup, R-Kent said she was always glad to return to the
hotel because of Mr. Sterling.
"I always looked forward to seeing him," she said. "He was a wonderful
ambassador for the hotel and made you feel so welcome."
"He was always so helpful," she added. "Whatever I did not think of,
he did. He was an institution in himself, and that is hard to come by
these days."
Ned Sarno, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1966, returned year
after year as much to see his friend Rosie as going to homecoming
events at his alma mater.
"A couple years after graduation he helped me get a room when I didn't
have a reservation, and the friendship started right away," he said.
"I didn't know whether I was coming to town to see Rosie or for the
homecoming game."
He told stories about their friendship like the time Mr. Sterling was
waiting for a ride home and Mr. Sarno threw him the keys to his brand
new Cadillac.
"I told him to have the car back in the morning, I needed to get to
the game," Mr. Sarno said.
Mr. Sterling would wait at the hotel for Mr. Sarno if he knew he was
coming into town.
"I would get a call on the Jersey Turnpike," Mr. Sarno said. "It was
Rosie wondering if everything was all right. He'd say, 'Take your
time, I'll wait for you.' And he would.
"The last time I saw him I told him one of these days one of us would
not be here. I told him I hoped it was me, because I couldn't stand
the thought of coming to Annapolis without Rosie being there."
While smiling for customers, Mr. Sterling also had little patience for
distractions during busy periods.
"He was always saying, 'Bad Time, bad time.'" Mr. Cook said. "If I was
buffing the lobby floor here, and he got busy, he'd let me know. 'Bad
time, bad time,' he'd say."
When he wasn't working, Mr. Sterling was playing. He liked to have a
good time and cooking, always volunteering to man the grill at company
parties.
And he liked playing the lottery, too.
"He came up to me one time saying, 'I need a number, give me a
number,'" Ms. Chilcote said while sitting with other staff talking
about their old friend.
"So I gave him my number, one I played every once in a while," she
said. "Darned if he did not hit the lottery on my number."
Mr. Sterling was a fixture at the hotel since starting at the then-
Hilton Inn before it became a Marriott in 1992.
"People still come in and ask for Rosie, and if the restaurant is
still on the fifth floor," Ms. Chilcote said with a smile.
The restaurant has been Pusser's, on the ground floor since Marriott
took over.
The old restaurant was turned into the hotel's finest suite with a
penthouse view of the Annapolis harbor.
A brass plaque identifies it as the Roosevelt Suite, in honor of Mr.
Sterling.
"I don't know if people realize how much the hotel meant to him," Ms.
Paez said. "Now it won't be the same without him."
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Roosevelt Sterling
Funeral services for Roosevelt "Rosie" Sterling, 63, a resident of
Annapolis for 40 years and previously of Rock Hill, S.C., will be held
at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at William Reese and Sons Mortuary, 821 West
St. Family and friends may visit from 10 to 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the
funeral home.
Mr. Sterling died Dec. 24 at Georgetown University Hospital.
He was born Feb. 28, 1944, in Rock Hill to Pearl Sterling of Rock Hill
and the late Nathaniel Sterling Sr., and graduated from Emmie Scott
High School.
He was a well-known Bellman at the former Statler Hilton, now the
Annapolis Marriott Waterfront Hotel, beginning in 1967 when the hotel
was founded and working for almost 40 years.
He was known for his smile, and enjoyed cooking, watching Westerns,
and spending time with family and friends.
Survivors include his former wife, Janet Bass; three daughters,
Cynthia Sterling of Severn, Sheron Sterling of Annapolis and Sherleta
Sterling of California; two step-daughters, Zaida Robinson of
Brentwood and Mary Kay Smith of Forestville; one brother, John David
Sterling of Washington, D.C.; one sister, Patricia Sterling of
Wilmington, N.C.; his companion, Pearl Gross of Annapolis; and eight
grandchildren.
Interment will be private.
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