Roger Martin, a New York restaurant consultant, publicist and marketing specialist — as well as former restaurant owner on Long Island and Manhattan — died Jan. 4, 2002, of heart failure after a short illness. He was a resident of Douglaston fro
Martin began his restaurant career as a student of NYU when he was an evening coat checker at the famed “21” Club. Martin soon put on a a black tie to assist the owners in seating guests according to an in-house pecking order.
Martin was an associate of Joseph Baum in Restaurant Associates and Windows of the World, which Baum had credited him as naming. He assisted in the openings of the famed Forum of the 12 Caesars, the Four Seasons, Charley 0’s, La Fonda Del Sol and the Brasserie. He opened his own restaurant in Sagaponick, L.I., which moved to Montauk, Bridge Hampton and eventually East 57th Street in Manhattan. In 1991 he opened another Rogers in Wainscott, L.I. with his daughter Stacey.
In 1979 he went into full-time restaurant consulting work including “21,” the Palm, Petrossian, Dish of Salt and The Terrace. Most recently, he worked with Uncle Jack’s, a steakhouse on Bell Boulevard in Bayside where he was instrumental in the promotion of Uncle Jack’s Steak Sauce, handsomely presented in a wooden box.
He is survived by a son, John Martin, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Manhattan District Attorney; a daughter, Stacey, an attorney and real estate broker in East Hampton; and two grandchildren, John and Charlotte Martin. He is also survived by a brother, Stephen G. Martin, a television producer-director.
