Following a 29-year career in member service and traffic engineering for the Automobile Club of Southern California. Gary retired from the Club due to illness, and a long bout with emphysema ensued. Thanks to a generous donor family, Foxen received a lung transplant at UCLA in 1999 and returned to almost complete health.

After having his life transformed by an organ donation, Gary felt compelled to give back to society for the amazing gift he had received. Having decorated the Auto Club's Rose Parade float for many years, Foxen envisioned a float in the Rose Parade to honor donor families and to inspire people to be organ and tissue donors.

In 2001, he proposed the idea to OneLegacy, the organ and tissue recovery agency serving the greater Los Angeles area. Less than three years later, the Donate Life Rose Parade float made its first appearance in the Rose Parade. Now in its sixth year of parade participation, the Donate Life Rose Parade float is an emotional touchstone of "America's New Year's Celebration" and is the centerpiece of the nation's largest public relations campaign to inspire people to donate life. Said Gary of his vision, "The idea was divinely inspired."

Foxen remains active as a member of the Donate Life Float Committee and a volunteer Donate Life Ambassador, and will be joined at the 2009 Rose Parade by his wife Lois, son Nick, daughter-in-law Maggie, and granddaughter Isadora.