David S. Mann M.D.

Dr. David Samuel Mann, 93, died Saturday, December 28, after a brief illness. The viewing will be from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Friday at Snow’s Memorial Chapel, Cherry Street. The family also may be contacted at his home at 2868 South Hillandale Circle. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 4, at Riverside United Methodist Church, with Rev. Stephen Waldorf and Rev. John Irwin officiating. Immediately after the funeral there will be a catered reception for family and friends in the church Fellowship Hall, followed by a graveside service in Riverside Cemetery.

Dr. Mann, the son of Rev. David Gilbert Mann and Gertrude Leoline Clark Mann, was born in Baconton, Georgia, and lived in Macon for most of his life. He achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in Troop 19 and graduated from Lanier High School in 1938, where he was ROTC Lieutenant Colonel. In 1942 he received a B.S. degree magna cum laude from Mercer University, where he was a member of the Phi Eta Sigma freshman honor society, the Sigma Mu senior honor society and the Kappa Alpha Order. He received his M.D. degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 1944, where he was president of his class and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He completed college and medical school in six years.

Following his graduation, Dr. Mann enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served at the U.S. Naval Hospitals at Pearl Harbor, where he treated Iwo Jima casualties, at St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu and with the Military Government of the Marshall Islands, where he treated the native population. Following Navy service he was a senior resident at Columbia Hospital in Columbia, S.C. He married Joyce Daniel of Macon on October 20, 1946.

Dr. Mann practiced medicine in Albany, Georgia, from 1947 to 1952, when he was recalled into the Navy because of the Korean War. He served at the Charleston Naval Shipyard, where he was in charge of civilian medicine for the more than 9,000 employees.

In 1954 Dr. Mann began the private practice of general medicine in Macon, eventually becoming board certified in family practice. He had admitting privileges at all local hospitals, served as president of the Coliseum and Parkview Hospital medical staffs, was a Clinical Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Mercer University School of Medicine, and read all the chest X-rays taken at the Bibb County Health Department for several years. He was on the three-doctor Coronary Care Committee that started the Coronary Care Unit at Macon Hospital (now the Medical Center of Central Georgia), the second such facility in Georgia, and was one of five physicians who served in the Macon Heart Clinic during its 40-year existence, receiving Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards from the American Heart Association for his work there. He headed the Heart Fund for two years. He delivered hundreds of babies, admitted more than 100 patients a year to local hospitals, often to ICUs and CCUs, and made well over 10,000 visits to local emergency rooms.

At various times he was a company doctor for the Central of Georgia Railway, Southern Railway, IBM, Brown Transportation and Bibb Manufacturing Company, among others, and in the 1970s he was the physician for His House, a Methodist facility for runaway teenagers with drug problems. In 1974 he ran as the Republican candidate for the Bibb County Board of Education. He received a Key Club Award for Citizenship and was an adviser for Dudley Hughes High School.

Following his retirement from private practice in 1986, Dr. Mann worked at the Carl Vinson Veterans Administration Medical Center in Dublin until 1991, mostly in Ambulatory Care, an emergency and outpatient facility that treated more than 70,000 patients a year. He also was the employee physician for the approximately 1,000 workers there, and he received the rare Director’s Commendation. Dr. Mann also worked at the Heartworks Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinic of the Medical Center of Central Georgia, was the physician for the first pulmonary rehabilitation clinic in Macon, was the medical director of weight-loss clinics at the Medical Center of Central Georgia and Coliseum Medical Center, and served in the Macon Volunteer Clinic. He was the physician for Hurricane Katrina evacuees at his church’s Good Samaritan Shelter in 2005-06.

Dr. Mann was a member of the Bibb County Medical Society, the Medical Association of Georgia, the Georgia and American Academies of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, the Southern Medical Association and other medical organizations. He was also a Charter Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Mann was a charter member of Riverside United Methodist Church, founded largely by his father. He was a member of the Beaty-Gray Sunday School class, a member of the Board of Stewards and a Sunday School teacher. He was a member of the Macon Kiwanis Club, Healy Point Country Club and Historic Macon.

Dr. Mann remained fully licensed as a physician until his death and, at the time of his death, remained an honorary member of the medical staffs of the Medical Center of Central Georgia and the Coliseum Medical Center. From his hospital bed, he consulted with his doctors and nurses about his final illness virtually until the end.

He highly valued family, education and Christian service to the community. His energy, warmth and intelligence will be missed by all who knew him.

Dr. Mann was predeceased by his parents and sister, Annie Lillian Mann Watt. Surviving are his wife, Joyce Daniel Mann; children, David Harold Mann of Atlanta, Beverly Elizabeth Gromer and her husband, Greg, of Blue Ridge, Clark Daniel Mann and his wife, Tina Marie Mann, of Orlando, Florida, and Gary Edward Mann of Macon; brother, Dr. Harold Wilson Mann and his wife, Betty Parks Mann, of Durham, N.C.; grandchildren, Daniel DeWitt Chance of Atlanta, Christina Marie Mann of Tallahassee, Florida, and Jackson David Mann of Orlando; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Donations may be made to Riverside United Methodist Church, 735 Pierce Avenue, Macon, GA 31204, or to the charity of the donor’s choice.

Visit www.snowsmacon.com to express condolences.

Snow’s Memorial Chapel, Cherry Street, is in charge of arrangements.