Roland de Marcellus

Count Roland de Marcellus passed away peacefully on February 12, 2026 surrounded by his loving family. He lived a very full life in his 93 years guided by his desire to always “go his own way.” He was known for his inventiveness, love of boats, dancing skills, his devotion to family, his confident faith, and an infamous propensity to crawl under a car at any moment or emerge from under one all covered in grease. He was most proud of being an exceptional husband to his beloved wife, June, and father to Claire and Edmond.

He was born in Dorking, England on August 13, 1932 as the fourth of seven children to Count Henri de Marcellus and Rose Gordon Clark de Marcellus.

Although born in England, he recalled his greatest boyhood memories in Redlands, California where his father cared for his orange groves. There his grandmother, known as Bonne Maman, noted his inventiveness and ingenuity and bought him scraps of wood and nails. Roland used her tools to make various creations. His love of sailing was inate, and it was His Mummy who helped him use these items to build his first boat in a pool. He later helmed a sailboat at Lake Sunapee where he would disappear for the day. DeGaulle, his dog, would instinctively sense his return and greet him at the dock. His brother, Olivier recounted how he turned a boat named Stormy Weather into a sailboat, and created a trailer with roller skate wheels to transport it from the house to the water in Palm Beach. His father later bought for him his famous boat, Skeet. It was built by a school shop class in Palm Beach in 1932, the same year Roland was born.

He spent many days repairing, upfitting, painting and improving Skeet, activities which held as much intrigue for him as a day on the water. Many nieces and nephews, as well as Edmond and Claire recall bailing water while sailing, and learning to read the wind and make sail. A nephew, also named Roland, recalls being recruited as bailing boy for a date that Roland had on Skeet with his future wife, June.

His love of the beauty of the water inspired his artistic side, inherited from his mother. His paintings of boats and the sea featured reflections dancing on the water captured with his keen eye and adept brushstrokes on his canvases. His art reflects how he viewed the magnificence of the world and of God. This sense of beauty and eternity is captured by the ocean.

Bonne Maman saw Roland at an early age as an engineer, fueling this with her gift of wood and nails. He later attended Georgia Tech to study engineering where he also proudly served his country in the Army ROTC program. His entrepreneurial side emerged when he partnered with a local cobbler to collect shoes for mending, then deliver them back to the students. Piles of shoes driving away potential roommates enabled room for his business to flourish to help pay his tuition.

His father inspired his love of music and taught him to dance. He has many stories of dancing at various Palm Beach establishments. The early funding of his business ventures came from teaching ballroom dance lessons at Arthur Murray and Patricia Stevens Modeling Agency in Chicago.

His engineering and entrepreneurial spirit melded to form ADDCO Industries in 1960, originally known as Automotive Design and Development Company. He established the first performance aftermarket anti-sway bars, patented the first anti-lock braking system, dual circuit electrical system, and an engine pre-oiler. And who could forget about the Plow-boy?

As he continued to teach dancing to finance his endeavors, he recruited many girlfriends, nieces and nephews to pack sway bar kits for him in his basement apartment in Chicago. Thus, ADDCO was born.

It was during this era he drove his famous 1957 Dodge convertible with a prized D500 HEMI package with dual carburetors on an Offenhauser intake manifold! This iconic automobile is etched into the memories for the lucky ones who experienced riding with the top down, wind blowing in their hair. Roland was described as a suave Clark Gable.

He later packed up his machinery for his business into a legendary large blue truck that barely made the voyage to Florida. Here he built the first ADDCO factory, becoming a well known institution in the industry. This afforded him the success he sought and supported his family.

With his twinkling blue eyes, sailboat, and slick dancing skills, he could have had his pick of any number of women as his wife, but luckily for us, he chose and cherished June Gowen as the love of his life. They met when his brother, Robert, hired her to work in his Manpower office. Ten years later they married. They had two children together; a daughter Claire, and a son, Edmond, who now leads ADDCO.

He has left a lasting legacy for his employees at ADDCO. He led by an example of fairness, and demonstrating how to attain the tools for a successful family life. This has secured loyalty and admiration from his team.

The life he created for his family was magical. A home on the water on Lake Worth provided for endless boating adventures. An always open door at a second home on Sugar Mountain welcomed many visitors with food, drinks, fun, laughter and friendship around a roaring fire. He showed his family every state in the continental US in his motorhome, making many of his own mechanical repairs on the way, imparting his unique wisdom and technical expertise on Edmond.

Roland was keenly aware that his blessings and successes in life were God given. His faith was total confidence in what God had said and promised. He never questioned what his mother taught him as a boy, reading from the Jesus of Nazareth book with its fantastic images which became emblazoned on his consciousness. This faith taught him that all life is precious, and led

him to found the Palm Beach County Chapter of Right to Life, where he impacted innumerable lives. Roland’s faith & confidence in God gave him the calmness, cheerfulness and courage to face the end of his life with the same dignity, grace and touch of humor that defined it.

Roland is preceded in death by his wife, June Claire Gowen de Marcellus, and is survived by his two children; daughter Dr. Claire de Marcellus Paris and his son-in-law, Nathan Paris, son, Edmond de Marcellus and his daughter-in-law Molly de Marcellus; seven grandchildren, Morgan Elizabeth Paris, Thomas Roland Paris, Henri Charles Paris, Brandon Roos, Rhett de Marcellus, Wyatt de Marcellus, and Juliette de Marcellus; 2 brothers, Robert de Marcellus and Olivier de Marcellus; 2 sisters, Juliette de Marcellus and Christine Vollmer; as well as many adoring nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be conducted at Lourdes Noreen McKeen on Tuesday February 17th at 11am. Visitation prior to the mass, and burial afterward at Riverside Memorial Park in Tequesta, FL.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your local pro-life charity, and please dance a mambo in his honor.