William H. Mann, 91
William Houston Mann of Southampton and Palm Beach died of pneumonia on Aug. 27 at Southampton Hospital, surrounded by his family. He was 91.
Mr. Mann was a founding member of the St. Luke Institute in Maryland, a Catholic healing ministry. His family said he was an international leader dedicated to education and integrated psychological, spiritual, and physical care, and he served as chairman of its board for 30 years. He received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award from the pope in 2006.
He had been president of Manca Inc., a commercial and industrial equipment supplier based in Milwaukee and president of Leitz Inc., an importer of cameras and industrial instruments that eventually became the Leica Camera Company. He also was a member of many clubs, a lover of the opera, and a
world traveler.
The clubs to which he belonged included the Metropolitan Opera Club, the Maidstone Club in East Hampton, the Knickerbocker and Yale Clubs of New York City, the Bathing Corporation and Meadow Club of Southampton, the National Golf Club, the Everglades Club, and the Bath and Tennis Club in Palm Beach. He had served as a co-chairman of the board of the Collegiate Chorale (now MasterVoices) for many years, and also for many years on the board of the Hampton Classic.
He was born on June 13, 1926, in Baltimore, to the former Helen Grimes and Henry Mann. He was educated at Le Rosey in Switzerland and graduated from the Brooks School in North Andover, Mass. He was fluent in German, French, and Spanish.
After serving in the Navy in the Pacific for two years during World War II, Mr. Mann graduated from Yale with the class of 1950. His family were summer residents of Further Lane in Amagansett and Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton Village in the 1940s. He later began spending summers in Southampton.
When he was married to his first wife, the former Beba Spradling, with whom he had five children, they traveled back and forth briefly to Argentina. After her death, in 2000, he married Anna Murdoch Mann, who survives.
“He was a gentleman in every respect and loved and admired by all who knew him,” his wife of 17 years wrote.
The family held a private funeral in Southampton on Aug. 30. A memorial and celebration of Mr. Mann’s life will be held at a later date.
In addition to his wife, a son, Paul Mann of Miami, and four daughters, Monique Czaja of Venice, Fla., Mercedes Olivieri of Sagaponack, Alexandra Talmage of Springs, and Maria Mann of Montague, N.J., survive, as do seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Two sisters, Helen Wright of New York City and Dicki Cummins of East Hampton, survive as well.