Over the years, Steve Townsend has come to realize that his life revolves around his family—and making each of them proud to carry the Townsend name. “I have been blessed to be married to my high school sweetheart, Marge, for almost 53 years. We are proud of our two daughters and, between them, we have four grandchildren ranging in age from seven to 22 years old. It’s our seven-year-old granddaughter who helps keep us young, along with all of the Townsend Scholars at Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties, where I also serve as Chair of the organization’s Foundation,” he shares. The Townsends moved to Lakewood Ranch from Connecticut in 2010, initially as snowbirds. Like many who fall in love with the area, they soon became full-time residents. Steve spent most of his professional career at United Natural Foods, Inc., a company he helped start in 1981. Over the next 25 years, he helped grow it from a startup into a $5 billion public company, serving first as CFO and later as CEO and Chair.

Since retiring in 2006, Townsend has remained deeply involved in the business world through work with three private equity firms that invest in privately held companies. “We have taken two of these businesses public. My role is to build out the management teams of the businesses we own, and I sit on the various Boards. On these Boards, I have served as Chair of the Audit, Compensation and Governance Committees. In addition, I have also served both as Chair and Lead Director of certain Boards,” he explains. “I consider myself to be a serial entrepreneur!”

Growing up with a single mother and juggling work, school and sports, Townsend learned the value of perseverance and hard work early in life. These experiences drive
his passion for helping young people succeed. “Education has always been a shared passion for us. My wife and I were the first in our families to attend college. Since 1999, my passion has been to provide scholarships to ‘at-risk’ young people who generally do not expect to go any further than high school. We started by endowing the Townsend Scholarship Fund at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Connecticut. We gave our first scholarship to QVCC in 1999 and now do approximately 27 scholarships each year,” he says.

When the couple relocated to Florida, they hoped to continue their philanthropic efforts. A close friend invited them to the Champions for Children Gala at the Boys & Girls Club, and they were immediately moved by the experience—especially by the young people. Inspired, they scheduled a meeting with Bill Sadlo, President/CEO of the Club, to explore opportunities to get involved. In 2017, Townsend was invited to join the Foundation Board. The Townsends endowed and awarded their first scholarship in 2018. By 2025, they had awarded 31 two-year scholarships.

“Through 2025, we have now provided 458 scholarships at QVCC and 118 two-year scholarships at our Boys & Girls Club. Plus, as part of our continued support for Boys & Girls Club, we also provided Club memberships for four local youth, allowing them to attend a local Club year-round and access all of its programs and services at no cost to their families—a commitment we’re proud to carry forward,” shares Townsend.

The scholarships created in partnership with the Club are administered alongside Take Stock of Sarasota. “The young people we target are ‘at-risk’ youth who generally would not be able to attend a college, community college or trade school. In setting up the scholarships with the Club and Take Stock, we can provide support for these young people from both the Club and the Mentors provided by Take Stock,” he explains. “The Mentors help to keep these young people on track to successfully navigate high school and get prepared for their college or trade school journey.”

Townsend lives by four guiding principles in his daily life that inspire his philanthropic spirit: Pay it Forward; The harder I work, the luckier I get; Failure is going to happen, so when it does, fail fast and learn from it; and Choose Better over Bitter.

His philanthropic work has brought countless meaningful stories into his life. “The key is we want to pay it forward so we can see the impact of our philanthropy each and every day,” he says. “It’s so inspiring to hear how grateful families are when we are able to provide a scholarship to one or more of their children to attend either a college or trade school. These interactions inspire us to want to provide scholarships to every deserving student! Because we have been doing scholarships for 25 years, we now see how the scholarships have created a career for these young people. We have recipients who have graduated and gone on to careers as nurses, HVAC techs, accountants, social workers, teachers, business owners and we even have two who have become college presidents.”

Townsend believes anyone considering philanthropic involvement should begin by identifying their true passion and aligning their giving with it. “Giving has to be done with a sense of purpose for the giver. For us, it is to provide education opportunities to ‘at-risk’ young people who may not think that getting a post-secondary education is even possible.”

While he is truly honored to even be considered for the Good Hero Award, Townsend emphasizes that recognition is not the motivation behind his giving. Instead, he and his wife are guided by two goals. “First, we hope to inspire others to seek out their life’s passion and to give both their time and money. And second, it’s to bring attention to the good work done by organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties. With our six main Clubs and five satellite campuses, our Club now serves more than 3,700 Club Members in our community!”  

Steve Townsend was honored as a Good Hero by SRQ Magazine in December 2024.