Todd and Stacey Breen of Boca Raton recently made a seven-figure gift to the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation. Their donation will enable renovation of a reception area in the main lobby of the Eugene M. and Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Tao Woolfe
Flashy wealth is always on display in South Florida, but it doesn’t seem to do much more than aggrandize its spenders.
Beneath the glare, though, are rarer souls who work hard, succeed, and then quietly direct their earnings back into their communities.
Although you may not have heard of them, Todd and Stacey Breen, of Boca Raton, are among those who give back without fanfare.
The couple, who reluctantly agreed to be interviewed, recently made a seven-figure donation to the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation.
The Breens have made similar low-key donations to healthcare institutions in Florida and New York throughout their adult lives.
Philanthropy, they both believe, is its own reward.
“We are private people and we quietly donate,” said Stacey Breen. “We will always be donating. Philanthropy is a big part of what we want to do.”
Their latest gift, described by Mark Easton, development director for the hospital foundation, as “a very large donation,” will help the affiliated Lynn Cancer Institute pay for a construction upgrade.
The money (the Breens prefer the exact amount not be published) will specifically be used to renovate a reception desk and welcoming area in the lobby, Easton said, adding that the hospital foundation is profoundly grateful for such generosity.
“Donors like the Breens are pillars of our community. They allow us to continue to offer world-class care,” Easton said. “The Breens don’t just help themselves — they help everybody.”
He added that the Breens — who allowed the foundation to determine how the money would be used — are “a sweet, friendly couple who wanted to support the mission of the institute.”
The donation comes at a time when outside funding has diminished, Easton said.
The Breens moved permanently to Boca Raton last year from Roslyn, New York, but they are not newcomers to South Florida. Both sets of the couple’s grandparents were longtime Boca Raton residents who welcomed their grandchildren’s annual visits.
The Breens live in a Boca Raton building overlooking the ocean. They and their four grown children and six grandchildren have taken full advantage of their proximity to the water.
“We are enjoying eating out at the Boca restaurants, traveling, and especially spending time on the water. Boating is a great family activity. It’s a big part of our lives,” Stacey Breen said.
She said that she and her husband also enjoy the company of friends in South Florida and New York. They spend summers in Sag Harbor, New York.
The Breens’ philanthropy is largely powered by the success of Sun Logistics, a Miami- and New York-based transportation and freight company founded by Todd Breen in 1973.
The company’s Florida hub is on a 5-acre parcel in Miami that includes a 40,000-square-foot warehouse. Sun Logistics ships medical supplies and other goods nationwide, but primarily in South Florida and the Florida Keys.
Todd Breen believes his company’s Florida business will continue to expand. “Miami is the international gateway for Central and South America. As the consumer population grows, so do deliveries.”
Todd Breen, 72, is the company’s CEO. Stacey Breen, 58, is a certified public accountant who enjoyed a successful career with Ernst & Young in New York. She joined Sun Logistics as its chief financial officer shortly after the pandemic and the coinciding retirement of Sun’s longtime CFO.
The Breens have no plans to retire, Stacey Breen said. Asked whether living and working together every day is too much togetherness, she laughed. “Todd says it’s the meeting that never ends.”
And throughout their working lives they have donated part of their income to healthcare causes. When they moved to South Florida, the couple researched local healthcare institutions and chose to support Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
Todd Breen’s father died young of what was then called lymphosarcoma. It is now known as non-Hodgkin lymphoma — a blood cancer that invades the lymphatic system and can spread throughout the body.
Todd Breen was 17 when his father died. The young man had been attending Queens College at the time, but had to drop out to support the family. The loss of his father led to the founding of Todd Breen’s first trucking company and sparked his lifelong interest in helping others fight cancer.
“Without your health, you have nothing,” Stacey Breen said. “Both Todd and I believe that no one should suffer, and anything we can do to make life better for the community, we try to do it.”
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