Edwin W. Stephan, one of the legendary pioneers of the modern Caribbean cruise vacation, died in Miami at age 87.
In the late 1960s, Stephan had a vision for a new type of cruise company that would operate in warm waters with newbuild ships. He set out to find partners and persuaded three Norwegian shipping companies to finance his dream.
They came together in 1968 to found Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and in 1970 their first ship, the Song of Norway, arrived in Miami.
Stephan would serve as president of the line, now called Royal Caribbean International, until 1996 and as vice chairman of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) until he stepped down in 2003.
RCCL chairman and CEO Richard Fain acknowledged the company's debt to Stephan.
"Ed was an inspiration and a great friend to many in the company," Fain said. "He was an honorable man who loved his family, his work and his community."
Born in 1931 in Madison, Wis., and a veteran of the Korean War, Stephan was a Florida hotelier before he became general manager of the Yarmouth Steamship Co., a Miami line whose Yarmouth Castle ship caught fire and sank en route to the Bahamas in 1965, leaving 90 people dead.
He later joined Commodore Cruise Line before traveling to Norway to recruit investors for his new line. He signed up I.M. Skaugen, Gotaas-Larsen Shipping Co. and Anders Wilhelmsen & Co., which each became one-third partners.
Only Anders Wilhelmsen remains an RCCL investor today.
Stephan's contributions include the distinctive Viking Crown Lounge cantilevered around the funnel of Royal ships and the idea to "stretch" cruise ships by inserting an extra midsection, a feat first accomplished on the Song of Norway in 1978.
Rod McLeod, who worked for years under Stephan at Royal, said his old boss stands with Norwegian Cruise Line founder Knut Kloster and Carnival Cruise Line founder Ted Arison as the patriarchs of modern cruising.
Stephan, McLeod said, "was everything a great boss should be. Without Ed, I probably would have spent my career pitching toilet paper, paper towels, potato chips and headache remedies on N.Y.C.'s Madison Avenue."