Army veteran who turned Royal Caribbean into a multi-billion dollar company dies at 87

Army -turned-Roy­al Caribbean Cruise Line Edwin W. Stephan passed away on at 87 years old after found­ing the com­pa­ny in 1969 and turn­ing it into a mul­ti-bil­lion dol­lar enter­prise, the com­pa­ny announced Sat­ur­day.

Stephan helped to pio­neer the mod­ern cruise indus­try as trav­el­ers know it today, mak­ing Mia­mi the cruise cap­i­tal of the world upon launch­ing the first ship built for warm-water cruis­ing in 1970. Under Stephan’s lead­er­ship, the com­pa­ny became one of the world’s top cruise lines, six dif­fer­ent brands and 63 ships oper­at­ing on all sev­en con­ti­nents and 77,000 employ­ees world­wide.

Last year, the com­pa­ny post­ed $9.49 bil­lion in rev­enue with prof­its of $1.82 bil­lion, or $4,974,773 per day, accord­ing to cruise line-focused web­site Cruze­ly.

: royal caribbean cruises edwin stephan

Edwin W. Stephan, founder, long -pres­i­dent, and vice chair­man of the of Roy­al Caribbean Cruise Line.

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“Ed was an inspi­ra­tion and a friend to many in the com­pa­ny. He was an hon­or­able man who loved his fam­i­ly, his work, and his com­mu­ni­ty,” said D. Fain, chair­man and CEO of Roy­al Caribbean Cruis­es. “Our heart­felt con­do­lences go out to Ed’s lov­ing wife, Helen, and the chil­dren he adored, Michael, Saman­tha, Gary, and Kristi­na. He will be deeply missed by all of us here, by his many friends, and by our com­mu­ni­ty.”

Stephan attend­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin before leav­ing to serve in the Kore­an War as an Army lieu­tenant, spe­cial­iz­ing in radar, field artillery and guid­ed mis­siles. He received two Bronze Stars dur­ing his .

Tick­erSecu­ri­tyLastChangeChange %
RCLROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES114.53-0.46-0.40%

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The Mia­mi Her­ald reports that after return­ing from Korea, he vaca­tioned in Mia­mi, where he quick­ly fell in love with the Flori­da port city and helped turn it into the cruise line des­ti­na­tion it has become.

Stephan served as Roy­al Caribbean’s first pres­i­dent for 27 years before mov­ing to vice chair­man of the board of direc­tors. He retired in 2003, accord­ing to Cruise Hive.

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