Daniel Anthony Breen Jr.

Daniel Anthony Breen, Jr., passed away peacefully in Houston, on Monday, the 27th of June 2016, at the age of 87. A nationally recognized pioneer in the field of investment management, Dan was a larger than life personality. He loved sports, he loved music – he never passed up the chance to sing “Danny Boy” and “My Way” before an audience – and he had an enormous capacity for friendship. He believed in the restorative power of laughter. Above all, Dan loved his family, his beloved wife Pat, his six sons, and his nine grandchildren.

Dan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1928, the son of Dan Breen, Sr. and Helen Frances Brady. Dan took great pride in his Irish-Catholic heritage and was a great fan of Notre Dame sports. From his father he learned to respect all people, regardless of their station in life. From his mother, who dabbled in the stock market, he developed an early interest in investments.

He attended Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was two-time captain of the basketball team. A 6-foot-3-inch center, he was known for his deadly accurate underhand free throw and treasured matchups against such national sensations as Clyde Lovellette. After earning a degree in business administration Dan entered the Army, mustering out in 1953. He then joined IBM as a marketing representative, the first step in a long and successful career in business.

While working for IBM in New York City, Dan noticed a strikingly beautiful young woman, Pat McCloskey, standing at the mailboxes at the apartment building where he lived. Dan talked the doorman into introducing them. Dan and Pat hit it off, and on the 11th of February 1961, they were married in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. This past February they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.

At IBM Dan rose through the ranks, eventually serving as director of sales promotion and co-director of industry marketing at the firm’s world headquarters in New York.

But the then-nascent field of investment management outside bank trust departments fascinated Dan, and in 1968 he joined National Securities and Research, a Wall Street mutual fund company, as senior vice president. Two years later, in a pivotal development in Dan’s professional life, Fayez Sarofim, a rising young money manager in Houston, persuaded Dan to join him as a partner in Fayez Sarofim & Co. Dan had met Sarofim several years earlier when Dan served as an assistant branch manager for IBM in Houston.

The two formed a close, complementary professional relationship, with Sarofim’s stock-picking acumen complemented by Dan’s management and marketing skills. When Dan joined the firm it had $600 million in assets under management. Over their 13-year association, during which Dan served as President of the company in addition to being Chairman of its Portfolio Management Group and a member of the Board of Directors, that figure grew to $14.5 billion.

Dan took great pride in his association with Fayez Sarofim & Co. and in its accomplishments, but he always nursed the ambition of owning his own firm, and in 1983, at the age of 54, he struck out on his own, founding Daniel Breen & Co.

Dan liked to joke that people questioned his sanity – leaving a well-established company to build a new one from the ground up. They likened it to moving “from the penthouse to the outhouse.” But Dan relished the challenge, and by 1997 Daniel Breen & Co. and Breen Trust Co. had close to $3.5 billion assets under management. Major clients included Rice University, Rockhurst University, Davidson College, Wesleyan University, Rockefeller Dodge Foundation, Lincoln Center, New York Telephone, and Coca-Cola of New York.

In that year Dan sold the two firms to Banque Indosuez. Some years later he started Breen Investors LP, transitioning ownership to two sons. At the time of his death he was Chairman Emeritus and adviser. During his career, Dan managed assets for more than 25 of the top 100 companies in the world.

While Dan worked hard and smart and enjoyed notable business success, he always believed in balancing work and play. An ardent golfer, he played all his life, at courses around the world. Basketball remained an enduring passion. Although his playing days ended when he left the Army, he never lost his enthusiasm for the sport. He followed the Houston Rockets, but he also cheered on his sons’ high school teams, Notre Dame, Georgetown – his love of sports knew no bounds.

Music and laughter, along with sports, kept him young, he often said. Every New Year’s Eve for over 20 years he organized a Cabaret Night at his and Pat’s home. He passed out songbooks for group singing, invited guests to take the microphone, and of course sang himself. “Moon River,” “Unforgettable,” Sinatra’s “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “New York, New York” were among his favorites. And every year, without fail, he sang “Danny Boy.”

Much laughter accompanied these evenings. Dan believed that laughing and telling jokes and funny stories kept you young, and he diligently practiced what he preached, retaining his good cheer and pleasure in good fellowship into his ninth decade. His zest for life was infectious.

He had a gift for making friends. He remained in touch with old college pals while forming new friendships well into his later years. These bonds provided a comfort and support that enriched his life.

He also tapped his friends to help him help others. In the last years of his life he took particular pride in organizing the Our Future Speaker Series, in which he and his professional and personal friends – all high-achievers in their fields – traveled to Houston-area schools to offer career-development advice to kids graduating from high school and college.

But his strongest bonds remained for those closest to him. He consciously strove to find ways to knit together, ever more strongly, his large family – Pat, the six sons, their spouses and children. He organized family trips and get-togethers, remembered birthdays, tried always to make everyone feel a part of the group.

Left to mourn Dan’s passing are his wife Pat; his sons Daniel Breen III and wife Dionne and their children Diandra and Daniel IV; John Breen and wife Zoe and their sons Jack and Dashiell; Thomas Breen and wife Chesie and their daughters Virginia, Eliza and Margaret; Brian Breen; Patrick Breen and wife Erin and son Declan; and Michael Breen and wife Erin and son Andrew.

Survivors also include his brother Michael Breen and sister Nancy Creel and husband Walter; sister-in-law Jackie Donovan; and many nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank Dan’s wonderful caregivers: Rita Acuna and her staff at Evergreen; Patrick Cuenca; Anita Smith; Alejandro Montalvo; and Dan’s longtime aides Sara Rodriguez and Vicente Rodriguez.

Dan’s professional affiliations over the years included: Member, Knights of Malta; Georgetown University Board of Regents; Rockhurst College Board of Trustees; Chairman of the Board, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory; President of the Board, St. Joseph’s Hospital; Board of Houston Museum of Natural Science; and Pacific Rim Board, Banque Indosuez.

He was a member of the Houston Country Club; Maidstone Club, East Hampton, New York; National Golf Links of America, Southampton, New York; Lyford Cay Club, Nassau, Bahamas.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o'clock this afternoon until half-past seven o'clock this evening, Wednesday, the 29th of June, in the grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, where a recitation of the Holy Rosary is to commence in the Jasek Chapel at half-past seven o'clock, led by Deacon Don Bradley.

A Mass of Christian Burial is to be offered at ten o'clock in the morning on Thursday, the 30th of June, at St. Anne Catholic Church, 2140 Westheimer Road in Houston, where the Rev. Al Sinasac C.S.B., Pastor, is to celebrate.

The Rite of Committal is to follow, via an escorted cortège, at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.

Honored to serve as casket bearers during the services are Milton Carroll, Donald Chapoton, Gordon Johnson, Johnny Johnson, Anthony Petrello, and Robert Whilden.

Serving as honorary pallbearers are Leslie Alexander, A.L. Ballard, Lewis Brazelton, John Chapoton, Ernest Cockrell, James Crownover, the Honorable Charles Duncan, John Duncan, George Farris, Ronald Glauser, Gerald Hines, John Jakobson, Robert Mangan, James McCartney, Robert McNair, Dr. Walter McReynolds, Carl Menges, Dee Osborne, Risher Randall, Thomas Reckling, III and Selby Sullivan.

Immediately following the services, all are invited to greet the family during a reception at a venue to be announced during the services.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions be directed to Houston Grand Opera, 501 Preston St., Houston, TX 77002, Attn.: Finance Dept.; Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, 8900 Bellaire Boulevard, Houston, TX 77036, Attn.: N.J. Santarcangelo; or to Christus Foundation for HealthCare, 2615 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77002, Attn.: Sue Rightly.

Dan Breen loved life, loved golf, loved his friends, but most of all, he loved us. He was our Danny Boy. Oh Dan, we loved you so.