ST. LOUIS – Her commercials were memorable for anyone living in St. Louis over the last three decades. Now, family members mourned the passing of Becky Rothman, known to many as Becky, the ‘Queen of Carpets.’
She was shown in commercials swooping into St. Louis on a magic carpet, which caught the attention of many television viewers.
“There are very few cities that have as many iconic television personalities from commercials as St. Louis,” said Guy Phillips, a St. Louis radio personality. “Becky is certainly one of them. She hasn’t been on TV in a long time, but people still remember Becky ‘Queen of Carpets’ and Wanda ‘Princess of Tile.’”
Family members confirmed that Rothman died of kidney failure on Sunday. She was just 67 years old. She has also faced health issues in recent years.
Rothman, along with her right-hand manager, Wanda Kilzer, sometimes by her side, became known to St. Louis viewers in the early 1990s for Becky’s Carpet and Tile.
Her customers and viewers knew her as the ‘Queen of Carpets,’ selling tiles and laminates, sometimes featuring other well-known St. Louis personalities like Phillips.
“I will tell you this, and I remember it from the set,” Phillips said. “She couldn’t have been nicer, and she could have been the queen of mean, to coin a phrase, but she was wonderful. I ran into her many times throughout the rest of her career here and mine as well, and she was always a very loving and endearing person.”
A funeral is planned for Rothman on Thursday at 10 a.m. at Berger Funeral Home and White Road Cemetery.