Maura (Curran) Breen

Beloved wife, mother, sister, Auntie, friend, leader and role model for countless more, Maura Curran Breen of North Falmouth, Massachusetts and Sarasota, Florida passed away on January 23, 2025.

Maura is survived by her husband Joseph L. (“Jay”) Breen, the love of her life, whom she married in December 1984 and her son, Ryan, the light of her life, and his wife Maggie.  Maura, Jay & Ryan built a beautiful family life in Fairfield, CT, where, even with a career and New York City commute, she made it home for dinner with Jay and Ryan every night and never missed a hockey game, baseball game or any other important moment of Ryan’s life.  Even in retirement, she was always the first call for career advice for Ryan, her siblings, and countless others who looked to her as their trusted advisor and mentor.

Maura was born to Hugh & Eleanor Curran in 1956 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where she grew up with her 5 siblings and was always relied upon to help watch, teach, play and nurse her younger siblings. 

Maura graduated from Lauralton Hall in Milford, CT before earning a degree in political science from Skidmore College in 1977.  She showed her passion for leadership and politics early on, enthusiastically supporting her father’s political campaigns in high school and becoming President of Student Government at Skidmore, where she also launched her own radio show about politics.

She had a long, illustrious career at Verizon from 1977 - 2008, leading teams from the very small to well over 18,000.  As President of Verizon Long Distance, Maura led the team of executives charged with developing what became one of the nation’s largest long-distance companies.  She was then promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, Retail Markets and later named General Manager of Verizon New York, then Verizon’s largest wireline P&L. 

While at Verizon, Maura was elected to the Board of Directors of Express Scripts, where she served on the Audit Committee and Chaired the Compensation Committee until 2018.  She also was a member of the Committee of 200, The New York Women’s Forum, Corporate Directors Group and Women Corporate Directors.  She was a David Rockefeller Fellow Alumnus and was recognized for her achievements by the Academy of Women Achievers in New York, Telephony Magazine, Ad Age, St. Patrick’s Home for the Aging, Diversity Magazine and Irish Today.  

In retirement, Maura, who suffered from Crohn’s Disease, passionately served the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America as a National Trustee from 2008-2017, ascending to National Board Chair from 2015-2017.

Since retiring in 2008, Maura and Jay had the opportunity to purchase their dream Cape Cod home in North Falmouth, MA and build their dream home in Sarasota, Florida.  In both places, Maura was able to return to her athletic pursuits, enjoying tennis, walking, yoga and strength training.  She and Jay together made up for any lost social time during their busy working years, enjoying the company of a tribe of friends over dinner parties, theater outings, card games, days at the beach and every kind of fun imaginable.

Maura is also survived by her brother Hugh, his wife Carol and their children Olivia, Hugh and Jack, her sister Mary Pat Healy and her husband Peter and their children, Sarah, Kateri, Peter and Mary, her sister Mary Kate, her sister Mary Ellen, and her sister-in-law Kristen and her husband Rob and their children Matthew and Caitlin, her brother-in-law Thomas Pratt, and his children Ben Pratt and Elizabeth Anderson.  She was predeceased by her parents, her in-laws Joseph and Barbara Breen of Belmont, her brother Jack, her sister-in-law Janet Pratt and brother-in-law Casey Breen. 

Visiting hours will be held in the Brown & Hickey Funeral Home, 36 Trapelo Road, Belmont, on Tuesday, January 28th from 4:00 - 7:00 PM.  A Funeral Mass will be celebrated in St. Joseph’s Church, 130 Common Street, Belmont on Wednesday at 11:00 AM. Family and friends are kindly invited. Interment will be held privately. In lieu of flowers, please consider sending contributions to Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, 733 Third Avenue, Suite 510, NY, NY 10017 or School the World, 109 State Street, Boston, MA 02109. 

To view a livestream of Maura’s Funeral Mass, please use this link,  https://www.harborview.live

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Maura (Curran) Breen, please visit our floral store.