J.W. Marriott, who heads the Marriott hotel chain, praised Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for bringing “positive attention” to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Marriott is a personal friend of Romney and, like Romney, a Mormon.

“Today we see the church coming out of obscurity, and we see that 90 percent of what has been written and said, including an hour on NBC, an hour an half on CNN, two front-page articles in the Washington Post, many articles in the national news about the church, 90 percent of it has been favorable,” Marriott said after a church service Sunday, according to Reuters. “And that’s a great tribute to Mitt and Ann and their family for living such an exemplary life.”

The Marriotts are long-time family friends with the Romneys. Romney, whose real name is Willard Mitt Romney, was named after J.W. Marriott Jr.’s father, J. Willard Marriott Sr., who founded the hotel chain.

Romney is the first Latter-day Saint to win a major political party nomination and, if he wins, will be the nation’s first Mormon president.

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