An ongoing list of some of our favorite people.
Sara McCann
There are many fiefdoms in Palm Beach but few seem more prescient or vibrant than West Palm’s Hive Collective, the home decorating cum bakery & restaurant cum gift & flower shop cum fashion emporium located on Dixie Highway. A favorite destination of designers and style mavens since 2013, it’s been described as a Disneyland on steroids for decorating junkies. The wife of Jim McCann, one of Palm Beach’s top grossing real estate brokers, the family seems to have cornered almost every inch of the home market, while “meet me at Hive” has become a common community refrain. It’s now even open for dinner.
Audrey Gruss
Palm Beach is filled with philanthropists who give of either their time or money, but Audrey is one of the rare ones who contribute both. While she and her financier husband Martin Gruss have donated significantly to a myriad of important education, healthcare and cultural causes around the country, her core passion is Hope for Depression Research Foundation, which she founded in 2006 in honor of her late mother Hope. Since then, the organization and its visionary leader have raised an astounding $85 million for important depression-related research. On top of all this she still manages to be a major social force within the community.
James Patterson
As if being proclaimed the world’s best selling author is not enough, the globally lauded writer is also a major philanthropist, donating significant funds to often overlooked Florida charities—most anonymously—such as public libraries. He and his wife Sue, the dynamic chair of the Palm Beach Landmarks Preservation Commission, are an archetype of a committed power couple for which Palm Beach has always been known. As a champion of the printed word he has questioned alarming trends in his industry by asking: “If there are no bookstores, no libraries, no serious publishers with passionate, dedicated, idealistic editors, what will happen to our literature?”
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