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.

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, healthcare 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.