Three generations tied to the Dayton Daily News and James M. Cox

Edward Breen’s family has subscribed to the Dayton Daily News for three generations. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Edward Breen’s family has subscribed to the Dayton Daily News for three generations. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Three generations of the Breen family had close ties to former Ohio Gov. James M. Cox and through that connection they were lifetime subscribers to the paper Cox founded, the Dayton Daily News.

It started in 1898, the year Cox bought the Dayton Evening News and renamed it the Dayton Daily News. Cox became acquainted with the manager of the Phillips House Hotel in downtown Dayton, John Breen - according to Breen’s grandson Ed.

John Breen son (and Ed’s father), Edward Grimes Breen, also managed the Biltmore Hotel and later the Van Cleve hotels in Dayton. Together John and Edward read the newspaper each day to see what it was saying about the properties.

Edward Grimes Breen later became the mayor of Dayton with Cox’s support, and built the only home he ever owned next door to Cox’s Trails End mansion in Kettering.

They became neighbors and life-long friends, said Ed Breen, who still lives in Dayton and subscribes to the Dayton Daily News. Cox gave Edward Grimes Breen the license plate number “783,” - a rare three-digit Ohio license plate - which has been passed down on the family’s cars since 1913, Ed Breen said.

“My father and grandfather adored the governor, and so there has never been a time in three generations of this family when the Dayton Daily News has not been in our home, and I hope that my children will keep the tradition going,” Ed Breen said.

Ed’s sons, Jamie and Robert, 29 and 26 years old, share their father’s paper, but he said he hopes they’ll get their own subscriptions soon.


To finish the 120th year of the Dayton Daily News this month we are featuring stories of some of our lifelong subscribers. Read them all at DaytonDailyNews.com

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