Special Class Notes June 2006 Bob Mann

Dear classmates: The president of our class for fifty years, Robert W. Mann, has suddenly passed away. I am just passing on comments as received and wanted to get this out to the entire class as soon as possible. I am asking our webmaster to accept comments to put in a special class notes for anyone who wanted to add to the Web notes.

Attached is some suggested copy for our web page. I say suggested because I'm not sure I successfully incorporated all the material from his funeral service and the expanded Boston Globe obit. Maybe I'm too close to the subject. I'm open to any suggestions any of you may have. It's hard to work such an accomplished life into a few pages. Mal Green

We were shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of Bob Mann on June 16 at his home in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. Bob, in good health according to his children, died of a heart attack while working on projects at his vacation home. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on June 21 and Bob will be interred in Milledgeville, GA, the site of the Flannery O’Connor Andalusia Foundation which Bob chaired. Flannery O’Connor, the noted author, was Margaret Mann’s cousin.

Two pages from the pamphlet distributed at the funeral, and reprinted below, describe Bob’s life and career very well. However they do not give adequate recognition to Bob’s contributions to our Class of 1950. Elected Class President in our senior year, Bob held that office for 50 more years, possibly a record, until he relinquished that position in 2000. As Class President, Bob served on every reunion committee and volunteered to take assignments contributing to successful reunions. His position and contacts on campus were a valuable resource in promoting the programs and welfare of the class.

Bob was an activist and participated in a wide range of activities. In addition to those mentioned below he served on the board of Technology Review, was active in the National Braille Press, supported the Lexington Symphony, and was particularly interested in motivating engineering students.

Our class has lost a great leader, academia and industry have lost a great contributor, and many of us have lost a good friend.

“Robert Wellesley Mann of Lexington, MA and Moultonborough, NH was a pioneer in engineering design and education, and in rehabilitation and biomedical research. In his research achievements, he was one of fewer than ten individuals recognized by election to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. He loved working with students, and his research was largely realized through his supervision of more than 300 undergraduate and graduate student theses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; many now serve as engineering faculty, Deans, and in industry. He was the author and co-author of over 400 publications, and named inventor on four patents.

A Brooklyn native, Bob was proud of his education at Brooklyn Technical high School. Following employment as a draftsman at the Bell Telephone Laboratories and World War II military service, he entered M.I.T. as a freshman on the G.I Bill in 1947, serving as president of the class of '50. He received his Bachelor's, Master's and Doctor of Science, the last in 1957. He joined the M.I.T. Mechanical Engineering faculty in 1953, became full professor in 1963, and subsequently was appointed to endowed chairs, first the Germeshausen Professor and then Whitaker Professor of Biomedical Engineering, which he occupied until he retired in July 1992. Other awards include the James R. Killian Faculty Achievement Award in 1983-84, established to "recognize extraordinary professional accomplishments of full-time members of the M.I.T. faculty." Bob also served as President of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of M.I.T., only the second faculty member to so serve. In 1995, M.I.T. named him as the inaugural recipient of their Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award. He became Whitaker Professor Emeritus and Senior Lecturer, following his 41 years at M.IT.

As an educator, Bob transformed the design curriculum in Mechanical Engineering at M.I.T. in the 1960s to be project-oriented, involving his students in entire design process from specification and conception through modeling and analysis, representation, fabrication and test. Formalized in the 1970s as the "Course 2.70 Design Contest", this approach is now replicated through numerous national design contests run at the secondary school level.

Bob's penchant for innovation evolved along diverse paths bringing together engineering, design, research and ultimately. medicine. At M.I.T. through the I 950's, he conducted research and development of air.to.air missile internal power systems and combined his draftsman and design experiences with the computer by inaugurating the Computer.Aided Design (CAD) project at M.I.T. in the late 1950s.

By the 1960s, his research evolved to focus on technology to ameliorate human disabilities resulting from physical handicaps, including English-to-Braille computer translation and production systems and electronic mobility aids for blind travelers, and the first-ever demonstration that brain signals could control a prosthesis replacing an amputated limb, the "Boston" arm. Recent research explicates the biomechanical role of cartilage and includes the only measurements of pressures on and in cartilage in vivo in the human hip.

While at M.I.T. both as a student and professor, Bob was a leader in the Tech Catholic Community. Through TCC, Bob met Margaret Ida Florencourt, who then was a Research Engineer at M.I.T. They married in September 1950. With Margaret's passing in 2002, Professor Mann assumed her role in the charitable trust and foundation of her cousin, the author, Flannery O'Connor. Bob served as Co-Trustee of Mary Flannery O'Connor Charitable Trust and as Chairman of the Flannery O'Connor - Andalusia Foundation, Inc.

The list of other leadership positions, Board memberships, and committee participation is lengthy and representative of his wide-ranging interests and desire to make a difference to all walks of life.

Bob is survived by son Robert W. Jr., (M.I.T. S.B.'75, S.M.'77) who has been a senior executive of several airlines and now conducts his own airline industry analysis and consulting business. Bob (Jr.) has his wife, Susan and two sons and a daughter. Daughter Catherine L. Mann (Radcliffe/Harvard A.B. '77, M.I.T. Ph.D. '84) served in policy advisory positions in Washington and is now a Professor of International Economics and Finance at Brandeis University; she and her husband, Randy Hartnett have a son.”

Dear friends,

Priscilla Gray just called to let me know that Bob Mann passed away last night. He had gone up to his home in New Hampshire, and apparently died quite suddenly. His children, Bob, Jr., and Catherine, are planning visiting hours on Tuesday from 4-8, and the Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, both in Lexington. I will send full details about both and an obituary when they are
available. What a terrible loss -- Bob was a great teacher, friend, and true citizen of MIT -- and will be missed greatly.

This has been a difficult few months for the class of 1950. I left a message for Mal Green to call me, since I didn't want to put this in an email to him. (I'm sorry to be resorting to an email for all of you.) I don't know if you are all receiving his email updates on Susan -- the last I heard, she had moved to a rehab hospital about a week ago and was recovering well from her stroke. After I talk to him, one of us will call Jewel Ganger.

Regards, Beth Garvin

I was shocked and saddened yesterday by a phone call from Beth Garvin informing me of the death of Bob Mann. Details are sketchy but he died at his N.H. home, perhaps of a heart attack. His obituary from today's Boston Globe is attached. It's difficult for me to encapsulate the life of such a towering figure into a paragraph for the Class Notes but I'll try in the next couple of days. As a start I'm attaching scans from our 50th reunion yearbook with lots of information. Bob was a personal friend for 60 years when we sat side by side in many freshman classes. His death is a loss to me, to our class, to MIT, and to technology.

What a loss. Thanks for sending us the Boston Globe obituary and the 50th yearbook scans. There goes a great guy and a treasure of the class of 1950 history. What a life. We'll miss you Bob. Sam Raymond

It is, in deed, a shock to me, also, to learn of Bob Mann's passing. I shared many classes with him and have great admiration for him who was far ahead of me in talent, intelligence and capability. I will always consider him my mentor in our generation.

Thank you so much for sending the information about him. If you are in touch with his family, please extend my deepest sympathy.

My wife and I were shocked to hear of his death especially so soon after driving him to the class of '50 Christmas Party this past December at the Endicott House. He served as our guide and was gracious enough to take our picture. He lives in our town, Lexington. I took the initiative this past year to invite him to come with us. In light of what happened I'm glad I did so. His residence was large with stately columns and a circular driveway. He confided to us that he bought the house for his wife because it resembled a southern plantation mansion. She was a southern belle from Georgia. He restored the interior himself. Since this was our first social encounter in Lexington, we never saw the insides. We met him and his wife at the tenth reunion of our class and on other class occasions.

Our condolences to his family. jacobssshap@yahoo.com

Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Shapiro

I am saddened to report that Bob Mann, our esteemed classmate, died last week.

Robert Wellesley Mann o f Lexington and Moultonborough, NH, June 16, 2006. Beloved husband of the late Margaret (Florencourt). Loving father of Robert W. Jr. and his wife Susan of Port Washington, NY and Catherine L. and her husband Randy E. Hartnett of Great Falls, VA. Devoted brother of Virginia Swartz of Pittsburg, PA, Helene Madigan of St. Paul, MN, Kenneth Mann of Burlington, VT, and the late Arthur Mann and Dorothy LeViness. He was delighted by his four grandchildren: Nicholas, Harry, and Olivia Mann and Bennett Hartnett. Funeral from the Douglass Funeral Home, 51 Worthen Rd., LEXINGTON, Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 9 AM followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Brigid's Church, Lexington at 10:00 AM. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend. Visiting hours Tuesday 4-8 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations in Robert's memory may be made to the Flannery O'Connor-Andalusia Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 947, Milledgeville, GA 31059. Interment Memory Hill Cemetery, Milledgeville, GA. Douglass Funeral Home Lexington 781-862-1800 www.douglassfh.com

So sorry to hear about Bob Mann's passing and I hope his last days were not too difficult.

I am very saddened to hear of Bob Mann's passing. He was an outstanding member of our class and devoted a great amount of his time and intelligent energy to Alumni and Institute affairs.

We, and the Institute, lost a solid citizen with Bob's passing. As class President, he was a strong leader, and as a Bioengineer, a classic contributor and innovator. My memories of him started during the summer of 1947 when he, Ken Olson & I (and maybe a few others) were roommates in Building 22 - I taking a special summer qualitative analysis course and he & Ken accelerating their coursework. I have no special memories other than to say he was a very likeable, quiet and friendly guy.

In a message dated 6/28/2006 3:41:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, jck@kernfdn.org writes:

I hope this material is appropriate. Anne and I had a very special friendship with Bob and Margaret, and it is tough to face these steady passages, but we have no choice but to do so while relishing the good times we have shared and in remembrance of the amazing experiences we all had at MIT!

"I first got to know Bob as a fellow undergraduate through our extra-curricular activities, especially our senior year when he was President of the Class and the Undergraduate Association's "Institute Committee", of which I was Treasurer and Chair of the Budget Committee. We both worked closely with a small band of members on the Executive Committee of that organization. Bob also came to his class office as a dorm living group leader, and I came from across the River at Beta Theta Pi. My Beta classmate brothers active in student affairs were unanimous in a commitment to work for bringing together the IFC (Interfraternity Council) and Dorm Council members. Dean of Students Ev Baker was instrumental in helping this along. Bob and other dorm leaders of that time had the same opinion, and we had a lot of positive interaction along these lines. Another close partner in all this I remember was Joe Gottlieb.

"In September of 1950 I was privileged to stand up at the alter with Bob and Margaret at their wedding. An anecdote I recall from that special occasion was this: When I drove over to the Florencourt's home before the start of the wedding to pick up the tails I had to wear for the wedding, Bob discovered the tie was missing from the box with my tails. We two then drove over to the local mortuary and picked up a loaner tie from a person already laid out.

"After graduation Bob had joined the Dynamic Analysis & Control Lab in Building 20, starting work on his graduate degrees. In January 1951, I joined that Lab as assistant to its Director, Prof. John Hrones from the ME Department, and Bob, Margaret and I saw a great deal of each other. And those times together have continued over the years.

"Bob and Margaret attended my wedding to Anne Moreland in West Hartford, Connecticut in September,1958. We continued over the years to share our children's accomplishments, weddings, and other celebrations. They came out to Chicago the last time in 2000 for our younger daughter's wedding. We've followed Bob Jr.'s and Catherine's careers with joy, and I shall especially miss my regular dinners at Legal Seafood with Bob on my frequent trips back to Cambridge to the Council for the Arts Grants Committee sessions. Of all the wonderful friends and relationships I have had with Class of 1950 members, really Bob and Margaret were my closest and really only on-going steady links to our shared MIT experiences. We all are facing our eventual passages, but it is fitting and proper to honor these relationships and how we helped one another, as we continue on our respective roads. In fact, the class members and officers now organizing these reunions and mini-reunions are doing a spectacular job of bringing us remaining survivors back together again. Hats off to all of you!"

I got to know Bob personally starting with the 25th Reunion Committee for which Jack Weaver recruited me. By then Bob was already famous for the Boston Arm. Bob attended all the subsequent RC meetings and made many contributions. He always referred to me as a colleague and I always took that as a compliment. We shall all miss him.

Joe- I remember Bob from Bldg 22, where he and several buddies had a hot plate and cooked many of their meals, using the box outside the window technique for refrigerating their food, while most of the rest of us were content merely to prepare some breakfast and lunches. Later we both moved to the dorm, where he lived across the hall, and I believe continued at least some of the cooking. He had a colorful roommate who used his German Luger to shoot mice in their room. I can remember Ken Olsen running off screen printed campaign posters for Bob's first election as class president. Bob went skiing with us to Vermont once at the Stowe state ski dorm, which was run by a tyrannical house master. After graduation Bob came to the Philadelphis area a few times to speak to high school students at a time when I was teaching high school chemistry. Lately I was very glad to see Bob again at the Class of 50 Christmas lunches organized by Mal and Susan. Through all these contacts Bob remained one of the finest persons I've known, a tremendous example of character, courtesy, and ability, who made every encounter with him worthwhile. It is very gratifying to read the summaries of his career and to realize how respected and honored he was throughout the country. Paul Zorn