Howard Roland, a longtime Disney executive who had a role in the making of the original hotels at Walt Disney World, has died. He was 88.

Roland was vice president of purchasing and construction contracts when he retired in 1995. His early duties with the company included acting as a liaison between Disney and U.S. Steel, a manufacturer for Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

He was returning from a business trip to Chile for Sheraton Hotels in 1969 when he wrote a letter to Roy O. Disney, who was in charge of building the Central Florida resort after the death of Walt Disney, his brother.

“I addressed the letter to Roy because it was the only name in the company I had,” Roland told the Disney Parks Blog last year as part of the resort’s 50th anniversary celebration. He expressed interest in working on Disney’s Florida project. Roland was hired on by John Curry, Disney World’s first hotel executive.

“He was a risk taker. … But when he was ready to move on, he was ready to move on,” said Lenore Roland, his wife of 63 years. “The reason he decided to leave Sheraton was, ironically, was traveling so much for them. … After he signed on with Disney, he did nothing but fly everywhere.”

So Roland and his family moved from a town near Boston to California for executive training and eventually to Orlando. His career continued with the expansion of Disney World and with Disney’s theme parks around the world.

Those experiences – plus previous jobs with New York-based Restaurant Associates and a stint as a cryptographer for the CIA – led to entertaining stories and exposure to luminaries such as President John F. Kennedy, artist Salvador Dali, entertainer Bob Hope and Disney Legends Mary Blair and John Hench. In college, he worked at a Manhattan coffee shop near Actor’s Studio and encountered Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and others.

“He was known as the storyteller of storytellers,” his wife said. “He had so many fascinating chapters, including Disney, that he really would mesmerize people, even people he didn’t know.”

Roland and Blair’s careers overlapped at the Contemporary, which features a tall mural, visible from the monorail, that she designed.

“He used to talk about Mary Blair and how creative and focused she was to create that mural,” Lenore Roland said.

Howard Roland’s initial purchasing responsibilities were for the Contemporary and the nearby Polynesian Village resort, Disney World’s first two hotels, which remain in operation on the famed monorail’s route.

“He bought everything – the carpeting, the wallpaper, any kind of decorations that went into the hotels. There was a lot of purchasing involved and components that go into a hotel,” said Paul Mullee, who was charged with purchasing for the Magic Kingdom theme park while Roland was working on the hotels.

“Purchasing is very demanding. Schedules were so critical to get the materials in on time and make sure that the contractors had them to install. Kitchen equipment was a major item,” said Mullee, who worked at Disney from 1971 to 1992.

Eventually, Roland was Mullee’s supervisor.

“He and I were a great team,” Mullee said. “He was wonderful to travel with. He was coming from the chain of Sheraton, and he knew a lot about food and things that go into restaurants. … So when you traveled with Howard, which we did often, you’d eat very well.”

Howard Roland was born in Staten Island, New York. When he was six years old, his father died, so he and his mother and sister moved in with his grandparents, an uncle and an aunt.

“He didn’t have any private space, but he learned the worth of very hard work,” Lenore Roland said. As a young person, he worked as a golf caddy.

“He would be there at four in the morning, and he’d sleep on a bench so he would be the first in line,” she said. “He had that thrive, early on, to survive.”

In Central Florida, beyond the borders of Disney World, Roland served as president and board member of the Center for Drug-Free Living, chairman of the Orange County Public Schools’ construction oversight and value engineering committee and president of the Orlando Museum of Art’s board.

The Rolands were longtime members of the museum, she said.

“He did something unusual there. Because he had a background in food, he organized the first successful wine auction because he had connections with a lot of the vintners in California,” she said.

Roland died at his home in Windermere on Feb. 15. He is survived by his wife, three sons and three grandchildren.

Howard Roland’s name appears on a Main Street window at Magic Kingdom, a way that Disney honors the contributions of retirees by creating a faux business for the turn-of-the-century atmosphere. He’s included on a window that was installed above the Casey’s Corner restaurant and facing Cinderella Castle. It advertises the Merchants Hotel. His name is next to that of John Curry, the man who hired him.

“I think he felt he made a real contribution,” Lenore Roland said.

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com

Overnight stay inside Cinderella Castle is raffle’s grand prize