Page 15 - Club Braman Magazine Fall / Winter 2018

TECHNOLOGY, PHILANTHROPY AND ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS
John and Marilyn Breyo’s Life Long Passion Ful lls Them
It wouldn’t be unusual to see John Breyo and his wife, Marilyn, anonymously pay- ing for the groceries of someone who ap- peared to be “struggling a bit.” Remember, this is the couple who became “angels” of the Lake George Jazz Festival in upstate New York, rescuing it from nancial col- lapse and keeping it going for 15 years.
They also created a home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. to provide artists a venue to display, and hopefully sell, their sculp- tures, paintings and glass-works.
Seasonal Palm Beach residents since 2000, the couple, now married 50 years, lives
by a simple philosophy: “On this planet, with more than 3 billion other people,
it’s pretty easy to reach out and help people. It doesn’t need to be with your name associated,” says Breyo, who retired 10 years ago after founding a nancial‐ planning consulting rm for Fortune
500 executives. “There are so many small ways to say, ‘Hey, I care about you. You are important. We are equal.’”
Breyo is an admitted science‐and‐tech- nology nut, whose youthful interest in science, growing up in Schenectady, never left him. He still counts astrophysics among his hobbies, and he and his wife
recently donated $100,000 to his alma mater, Siena College, for a new telescope for the Astrophysics Department. He has provided funding for students at his alma mater of Siena College and Albany Law School.
Over the years, Breyo has found yet another outlet for his passion for technol- ogy: his cars. “I have a new car passion. I’m a technology guy. I don’t collect antique vehicles, and so something comes up with new buttons and bells that interests me, I head in that direction of travel.”
Breyo won’t say how many cars he cur- rently owns. He was infatuated with the technology and engineering of his rst Rolls‐Royce in 1992. He bought his rst Rolls-Royce from Braman, a Phantom, in 2000, when he and Marilyn purchased their Palm Beach home. He keeps his new Dawn in Florida and his Wraith in New York. He’s owned several Rolls‐Royce motorcars as well as Porsches and BMW’s from Braman and has a custom‐designed Bentley Bentayga on order.
He knows he’s bought more than 10 cars from Braman but isn’t sure how many. Yet even more than the bells and whistles that are reinvented with each model year,
he sings the praises of the Braman sta , particularly Client Adviser Reza Amjadi and Sales Manager DeVaughn Pickens, whom he calls “two top‐notch guys.”
“Reza is just a tremendous, delightful guy, the perfect salesperson to work with,” Breyo says. “He’s very sharp. He knows the details. And DeVaughn is an A+ also. This new Bentayga I’m getting, DeVaughn has been hand‐in‐hand, front‐and center with Reza designing it and answering ques- tions and getting research for me.
John and Marilyn Breyo remain humble in their success, and while their philanthrop- ic e orts still are focused elsewhere than in Palm Beach County, their underlying philosophy remains the same.
“The reason for our success is our view of people,” Breyo says “trying to be support- ive without being showy and without seeking a lot of public acclaim. Marilyn feels as I do: Try to help people, and put something into this life experience that’s beyond just the four corners of our house, and to be fortunate enough that we can help somebody.”
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