Robert Hale Jr

Hale, the chief executive of Quincy-based Granite Telecommunications, and his wife, Karen, sparking a desire to do more to help the sick. They’re committing $100 million to two Boston health care institutions: $50 million for Children’s and $50 million for Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The Hales have connections to both Children’s and Brigham. Robert Hale said he was grateful for the care his father received at Brigham after a heart attack some 20 years ago. The elder Robert Hale died in 2008 after being treated for pancreatic cancer at Brigham and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The younger Hale, 51, also has been moved by what he has seen at Children’s Hospital. The Hales have been involved with both hospitals for several years, including helping to organize fund-raisers and cooking spaghetti dinners for some patient families. They have donated to several institutions in the past, including about $25 million to Connecticut College and $30 million to Deerfield Academy (Robert Hale’s alma maters), and $30 million (with Hale’s mother) to Dana-Farber. Hale, a father of three who lives in Hingham, said he feels a responsibility to share his wealth. Hale’s company, which he founded with his father in 2002, has prospered in a rare niche: packaging phone and other communication services for multistate giants such as Walmart and Costco. Granite’s success came after a failure: The Hales previously ran another telecommunications company, Network Plus, that went bankrupt. Granite employs about 2,000 people and collects annual revenue of more than $1.3 billion.