Cary Nicholas Marriott

Cary Marriott, an accomplished writer and beloved wife, mother, sister, and friend, died on February 24 at home in San Antonio, Texas. She died from a sarcoma induced by radiation treatment she received for endometrial cancer in 2011. She was 67.

Cary’s feature stories and essays about food, culture, and community appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, Gourmet, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Her personal essay “When in Rome, Bring the Baby” was broadcast on NPR in 2001. At the time of her death she was working on a collection of essays that she planned to call My Life in Recipes.

Cary was born on January 7, 1959, in Baltimore to Dr. Henry J. L. Marriott and Florence Nicholas Marriott. She graduated from Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa and earned a B.A. with Distinction in English and French from the University of Virginia.

Cary worked for Condé Nast in New York City for more than a decade before taking a role at the Shaker Museum and Library in the Hudson Valley, where she and her husband made a home for many years. They also enjoyed being “expatriates” in Provence and Rome and spent eleven years in Pittsburgh before moving to San Antonio in 2007. After more than 15 years as a full-time mom, which she often described as the world’s best job, Cary became the Marketing Director at the San Antonio Museum of Art and was later promoted to Chief Engagement Officer.

Besides libraries and museums, Cary’s favorite places were in the kitchen or sitting around a table (preferably round) with friends and family; she also loved to share the ritual of afternoon tea, often with a piece of shortbread. Cary was generous with her attention, her love, and her ideas. Over the course of her illness friends visited from every corner of the U.S. and every phase of her life.

Cary is survived by her husband, Jim Taylor, whom she met in New York in 1981; her children, Lucie Marriott Taylor and Wilson Reeve Marriott Taylor; her sister, Suzanne Marriott; and her brother, Henry F. A. Marriott.

Cary was a devoted caregiver to her mother, who lived to be 100 years old, and to her sister Mary Reeve, who suffered from ALS. Cary organized a “share the care” group called “The Reevettes” to support her sister through her long illness, engaging dozens of friends and raising more than $350,000.

Cary believed that grassroots efforts could change the world: Among other volunteer work, she tutored second graders for San Antonio Youth Literacy and helped maintain and promote community gardens. As she wrote in a 2022 editorial about Gardopia Gardens in San Antonio, “May we think less about where it all ends, and instead ask ourselves, ‘How can I begin?’”

A memorial service will be held on Friday, March 20, at 11 AM at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 315 E. Pecan St., San Antonio. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the San Antonio Museum of Art or the San Antonio Public Library Foundation.