Roosevelt Zanders was a pioneering owner of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 limousine

Limousine

A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....

 service Zanders Auto Rental Service. Starting out with a USD $3000 Cadillac, his fleet grew to 16 cars, including three Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce (car)

This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...

s. After establishing the company in Harlem

Harlem

Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

 in 1946, he kept the offices and garage in the same neighborhood, even as his client roster began to represent the elite of Fifth Avenue.

Early life

Zanders was born in Valdosta, Georgia

Valdosta, Georgia

Valdosta is the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 54,518. The Valdosta metropolitan area, according to the 2010 estimate, has a population of 139,588...

 in 1910, to the Reverend Arthur Zanders and his wife, Ethel Smith Zanders. During his childhood, he won a marbles

Marbles

A marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about ½ inch in diameter, but they may range from less than ¼ inch to over 3 inches , while some art glass marbles fordisplay purposes are over 12 inches ...

 shooting championship in Georgia and often competed in official games. When he was still a child, his family relocated to Youngstown, Ohio

Youngstown, Ohio

Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

, where Zanders attended the public schools. When his parents died, leaving behind four children, Zanders took a position as a locker room attendant at the Mahoning Valley Country Club to help support his siblings. Zanders served in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, where he achieved the rank of captain in the U.S. Army.

Career

Zanders was working as a construction engineer on the Alcan Highway in Canada when he developed the concept of offering combined limousine and concierge services, based on his difficulty in obtaining simple things that weren't readily available. He reasoned that travelers would find themselves in a strange environment and need someone to help obtain things they wanted, as well.

Zanders had established his limousine service and was gaining prominence with his concept of personal service by the mid-1950s and was noted to go beyond expectation to provide what amounted to a concierge service to his clients.

His fleet of vehicles consisted entirely of Cadillacs until December 14, 1958, when Zanders' custom-built Rolls Royce arrived from the factory. Only he drove it. "His helpers drive the Cadillacs," said Gay Talese

Gay Talese

Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism...

. In 1963, he appeared in an Ebony magazine article featuring client Muhammed Ali and a New York Life Insurance ad featured in the same edition.

Famous clients

Zanders' first notable client was Gertrude Lawrence

Gertrude Lawrence

Gertrude Lawrence was an English actress, singer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End theatre district of London and on Broadway.-Early life:...

, the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 actress who spent her later years in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. A neighbor of Zanders worked as a maid to Lawrence's attorney; it was through this connection that she first hired him. Ms. Lawrence's connection to Zanders was also mentioned in a 1959 New York Times profile of the limousine owner written by Gay Talese

Gay Talese

Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism...

.

According to Talese, anyone who could pay Zanders 150 dollars a day in 1959 was eligible for an entire day of his services. Zanders served as chauffeur to Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 during his April 15–26, 1959 visit to the United States. Castro insisted upon staying in a Harlem hotel and blamed the neighborhood's poverty on American capitalism.

Roosevelt Zanders drove Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 around the New York area before and after his presidency. (In the 1960s, Nixon lived in a Fifth Avenue co-op apartment. Zanders had a large host of famous clients included Margot Fonteyn

Margot Fonteyn

Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was an English ballerina of the 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time...

 Dorothy Kilgallen

Dorothy Kilgallen

Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...

, Ethel Merman

Ethel Merman

Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...

, Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

, Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...

, Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

, John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

, William Holden

William Holden

William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...

, Red Skelton

Red Skelton

Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...

, Clark Gable

Clark Gable

William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...

, Lana Turner

Lana Turner

Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...

, Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...

, Eddie Fisher

Eddie Fisher (singer)

Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher , was an American entertainer. He was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered...

, Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...

, and Aristotle Onassis

Aristotle Onassis

Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis...

.

Concierge to the stars

Besides limousine services, Zanders provided a variety of personal services to his clients. He made hotel and restaurant reservations, arranged for babysitters, picked up dry cleaning, completed banking and obtained theater tickets for his clients. Other services he performed ranged from sending 100 pounds of shrimp to John Wayne

John Wayne

Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

 while he was Paris to a $200,000 cash delivery for Aristotle Onassis, to sending two tiger cubs to the President of Panama. He once produced a pair of elephants to appear at a political rally for an anonymous client.

Later years

Zanders retired and sold his business in 1985. According to Zanders' widow and daughter, he penned an autobiography a few years before suffering a debilitating stroke in 1993. They claimed the manuscript, which contained anecdotes from driving Nixon and other clients, was stolen from their Harlem home before any publisher could read it. Zanders also was survived by a brother, Ralph, who worked in the Zanders company.

When Zanders died in 1995, his New York Newsday obituary was bylined Gay Talese

Gay Talese

Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism...

.