Rocco and Mary Abessinio Make $5 Million Gift to Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Keeping the Promise Capital Campaign

Local residents Rocco and Mary Abessinio have made a $5 million gift to Keeping the Promise…The Campaign for Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Their generosity will be commemorated with the naming of the new Energy Plant on the hospital’s campus.

“Our Keeping the Promise campaign has been both a revelation and a testament to the commitment this community has always had to Boca Regional,” said Lincoln Mendez, North Region Executive of Baptist Health, and CEO of Boca Raton Regional Hospital. “One reason that emerges regularly is the enormous generosity of those in our service area who have partnered with us as we move healthcare forward in Boca Raton and the region. Rocco and Mary Abessinio’s $5 million gift stands among our most impactful, and we cannot be more grateful.”

Rocco Abessinio founded Applied Card Systems Inc. and Applied Bank, and a worldwide waffle company among numerous other successful business forays. His bank grew to become a top-10 issuer of Visa and MasterCard credit cards nationwide. The Rocco A. and Mary Abessinio Foundation has been funding education, health care and religious programs since 2001.

“We moved to the Boca Raton area 24 years ago and were immediately impressed by the distinction of the hospital, and the importance of it to so many who live here,” said Rocco Abessinio. “We wanted to be part of this spectacular vision, leave a family legacy, and play a role in the health of the community. We applaud their prodigious efforts and are proud to partner with them.”

Rocco Abessinio, the son of Italian immigrants, grew up in Wilmington, Delaware and attended Salesianum High School, the University of Delaware, and received his bachelor’s and honorary degrees from Neumann University. The Abessinios now live in Boca Raton, and spend summers in Rehoboth Beach with their four children, their spouses, and 12 grandchildren. Rocco and Mary are long-time philanthropists who have made generous contributions to Beebe Healthcare’s Rehoboth Campus, to Rocco’s high school, Salesianum School, to replace a 5000 seat stadium, and to the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, in Wilmington where Mary volunteered for years. They also funded and built a National Hispanic Church, St. Rocco, in Avondale Pennsylvania for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“We are happy to christen the Abessinio Energy Plant through this extraordinary gift,” said Stanley Barry, co-chair of Keeping the Promise. “We have been blessed with significant gifts to this campaign, and Rocco and Mary stand tall in the midst of that rarefied group. We will be forever grateful to them for this expression of confidence and alliance.”

The Keeping the Promise Campaign is the largest fund-raising initiative in Boca Regional’s history and is supporting more than $1 billion in capital investments. The campus redevelopment plans include the Gloria Drummond Patient Tower and a Critical Care Tower where patients will be welcomed in the inviting new Louis B. and Anne W. Green Lobby with plans for a retail pharmacy, gift shop, dining, conference center, a sanctuary, outdoor courtyards, and other conveniences for visitors. The project features all private patient rooms exceeding the latest safety standards for patient care. In the current hospital building, all existing rooms will be converted to private in a comprehensive renovation of all inpatient units including maternity, oncology, and orthopedics. An expansion of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute is now completed with an emphasis on stroke, central nervous system tumors, spine, and epilepsy. The 972-car Schmidt Family Parking Facility is open and will be connected to the Marcus Neuroscience Institute. The recently opened Toby and Leon Cooperman Medical Arts Pavilion, is home to our Orthopedic Institute with an outpatient surgery center, physician specialty offices and is adjacent to the Eleanor Baldwin Parking Facility. The expansion of the Eugene M. and Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute to provide for a new Proton Therapy Treatment Facility is underway.

About Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation

The Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization for Boca Raton Regional Hospital, part of Baptist Health. Baptist Health is the largest healthcare organization in the region, with 12 hospitals, more than 27,000 employees, 4,000 physicians and 200 outpatient centers, urgent care facilities and physician practices spanning across Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Baptist Health has internationally renowned institutes specializing in cancer care, brain and spine care, heart and vascular care and orthopedic care. In addition, it includes Baptist Health Medical Group; Baptist Health Quality Network; and The Baptist Health PineApp, a virtual health platform. A not-for-profit organization supported by philanthropy and committed to its faith-based charitable mission of medical excellence, Baptist Health has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America and is the most awarded healthcare system in South Florida by U.S. News and World Report.

Boca Raton Regional Hospital is supported by philanthropy to strengthen its mission to deliver the highest quality patient care, satisfaction and safety. If you would like to learn more about supporting the mission of Boca Raton Regional Hospital, visit our website at donate.brrh.com.