Goodbye Dear Marius, Rest in Peace

Le Select, and in fact Saint Barth, will never be the same without Marius holding court with Ti Punch (Rhum blanc, sans glace) in hand. We were all blessed to have known him and to have learned from him. In normal times many of us would be booking flights and packing a suit - Marius loved a sharp suit - but perhaps it is better to allow his island to come together for a fond farewell without all of us. A man of the island celebrated by his island.

May you REST IN PEACE in Heaven eternal. May God comfort his family and loved ones as they cope with their grief and loss. God Speed my Friend!

There is nobody who I personally know who has touched more people in a positive way. RIP Marius.

A life full of love a life that touched others a life that impacted others with positive life lessons is a life well lived and a life well embraced.

I didn't know him like many others but what I do know is that every interaction I had with him, I came away thinking the same word: Kindness

My deepest condolences to all his family and many, many friends on SBH and all over the world. I did not know him personally, but I do know that the world is less bright without him through all of you that did. God bless.

Always hoped to, but never had a chance to meet Marius. So many stories. Rest in peace.

Such a sweet man. May he Rest In Peace.

In the spirit of his now valedictory speech at the 70th and as he is the one now being received in joy, let us treasure what has been inherited from his being among us for 97 too short years.

Ave atque vale

Of the many special trips to St Barts, there was this one trip, this one day, that was clearly the most special. I ran into Marius at Select, he asked if he could join me at a table on the patio. We visited for a while, he asked what I was doing the following day. He asked me to meet him back at Select around 10:00 am. He drove me in his small car to his quaint modest home, asked me to sit on the sofa. He brought out a scrap book filled with newspaper clippings, the King of Sweden had visited. Many celebs, many special memories in the scrap book. “But these are the most special”. It was a separate stack of pictures that random visitors to the island had sent Marius. One in particular was a photo with a couple from Chicago. Random visitors to the island, every day people, each VERY SPECIAL. That was Marius! Then we walked across the street to tour the museum that was yet to open. He was so proud. We went back to Select around noon, sat at the corner table inside and he ordered us two Ti Punches, with white rum, and continued the conversation. I thank God and I thank Marius for that special day I will never forget. The island will always be special, but never quite the same....RIP Marius

St Barths has lost a legend. The world has lost a kind gentle man with a heart of gold and the ability to make and keep friends like no other.

Things change but memories remain. I will never forget time shared with him at Le Select and his museum and his home. I will remember this man who cared for his family, his friends, and who was so devoted to preserving the history of this island that he loved with a whole heart.

Rest In Peace.

Marius was, by a wide, wide margin, the most loved and respected man I have ever met. I treasure every minute that I spent with him and thank him for the many lessons that I learned from him. May he rest in peace.

We never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Marius in person, but still we feel sadness in his passing. What an amazing man he was. May he Rest In Peace, and our heartfelt sympathy and prayers go out to his family and dear friends.

RIP Marius! you will be truly missed! An Icon is gone but his memories will live on forever!!

The island will never be the same.
RIP dear Marius

I don't visit this site much anymore, but wanted to stop by to express a few thoughts about Marius. I first met him in the mid 80's, while he was greeting guests at Le Select. I was immediately taken by his wisdom, humor and humility. In the years that followed, those qualities were always reinforced. I still think, had world leaders shared a table with him, most of the world's conflicts would have been solved. I feel fortunate to have known him, and call him my friend. The world is a bit darker today, but his light will continue to shine in the many, many, lives he touched over the years.

Farewell to a quiet, friendly legend of the island. Wonderful memories, but St. Barts is truly changed.

Gulf Breeze said:

“But these are the most special”. It was a separate stack of pictures that random visitors to the island had sent Marius. One in particular was a photo with a couple from Chicago. Random visitors to the island, every day people, each VERY SPECIAL. That was Marius!

Click to expand...

What a wonderful man and a treasured memory. We did not have the pleasure of meeting him in person, but I have enjoyed hearing the wonderful stories of him from family and friends on here through the years - above all else, his kindness, gentleness and love for everyone came shining through in every story. What a beautiful legacy for this special man. My deepest sympathies to all of his friends and family.

So sorry to hear of the passing of Marius. RIP.

From Le Journal




THE LEGEND MARIUS STAKELBOROUGH
by V.A 06/19/2020
97 years in Saint-Barthélemy, including seventy behind the Comptoir du Sélect, an emblematic bar on the island that he created on November 11, 1949, and a life in making the link between our island and its past, notably Swedish. Marius Stakelborough died on Thursday June 18, surrounded by his children.

Before opening Select in 1949, Marius had been successively a bookseller, photographer, in charge of the weather station, and above all a sailor. Born in 1923, he had traveled the sea for ten years, transporting goods between the Caribbean islands. In 2009, he told in his columns his return to shore: "There was no electricity on the island, but I could not bring myself to go to bed at 7 p.m.! So I suggested to my marine friends that they stop over at my house. We read books, played dominoes by the light of kerosene lamps, then Coleman lamps. This is how we started Select, with friends. Until 1987, the bar also served as a bookstore and students came to buy their textbooks there. The establishment quickly became an institution of the island, frequented as much by the locals, the travelers of passage, as the wealthy tourists, and which never lost its comforting simplicity in spite of the high-end development of Saint-Barthélemy .

Father of nine children, Marius, is also the architect of the bond that still unites his island and Sweden today. Passionate about the history of the island, and the Swedish period in particular during which his two grandmothers had lived, he had been elevated "Knight of the royal order of the Polar Star" by the King of Sweden, l equivalent of the French Legion of Honor. As a young man, this son of a police officer managed to acquire the first camera on the island, which, incidentally, remained the only one for several decades. He is the author of the first postcards of Saint-Barthélemy. And for years, he filled his small private museum with objects, press clippings, posters, documents, records, photos and testimonies from Saint-Barthélemy's past, opening it to the public on the anniversary of the Select , every year in November. Descended from slaves, Marius had made himself the true and authentic ambassador of Saint Bartholomew, and the cantor of his history. Loved by Swedes and Americans who frequent the island, his atypical and smiling profile was the subject of several documentaries, notably "Les amis de Marius", broadcast in 2009.

For the sixty years of the bar celebrated with great fanfare that year with a concert by Jimmy Buffet, Marius Stakelborough confided to us: "Time passes too quickly. I drank my rum. I have had my share of happiness, but what is certain is that I have worked hard for that. (…) The Select received people from five continents, of all races and all conditions with always the same grace and the same respect. The Select is my honor. "

Photo> Marius in 1969 © Lars Edlund