Luther Adams “Bo” Breck, the fifth-generation Breck of the Breck’s horticulture catalog, died on March 25 at 91 from complications caused by diabetes. Breck transformed his family’s garden supply business, which had opened in 1818, into a national catalog company. Breck ran the company after his father, Luther Sr., died in 1947.
According to a report in the “Boston Globe,” Breck initiated targeted mailings and ran contests to see which customers could come up with the best home improvement gadgets. At its peak, the Breck’s catalog had 2.5 million names on the mailing list. The company was bought by now-defunct catalog conglomerate Foster & Gallagher, then acquired in September 2001 by Lawrenceburg, IN-based multititle mailer Gardens Alive along with other Foster & Gallagher horticultural titles, including Gurney Seeds, Henry Field’s, Michigan Bulb, and Spring Hill Nurseries.
