Noted marine policy pioneer Gerard J. Mangone dies; services set Sunday

2:09 p.m., July 28, 2011--Gerard J. Mangone, 92, professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware, died July 27, 2011, at his home.

A native of Bronx, N.Y., Dr. Mangone received his bachelor’s degree from the College of the City of New York in 1938. Following four years of active military service, he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 1947 and 1949. His dissertation won the Charles Sumner Award for the most distinguished contribution to international peace.

Before joining the University of Delaware, Dr. Mangone held faculty and administrative positions at institutions including Wesleyan University, Swarthmore College and Syracuse University, where he served as associate and acting dean of the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

At Temple University, Dr. Mangone served as dean for the College of Liberal Arts and then vice president for academic affairs and provost, administering 11 colleges and 25,000 students. Soon thereafter he was appointed executive director of the President’s Commission on the United Nations and was the first senior fellow at the new Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

Dr. Mangone joined UD in 1972 as professor of marine studies and political science. In 1973, he created the Center for the Study of Marine Policy -- the first research center at an American university to study the legal, political, and economic issues facing the ocean, seabed and coastal zone -- and served as its director for the next 16 years. In 2003 the center was renamed in his honor as the Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy.

Dr. Mangone earned numerous accolades throughout his career. He was a visiting professor at Yale University, Mt. Holyoke College, Trinity College, Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University, as well as a visiting lecturer at the University of Bologna, Peking University, the University of Natal, Capetown University and the University of Western Australia. At Calcutta University in India, he was honored as the Tagore Law Professor and at the University of Delaware he received the Francis Alison Award as one of the University most distinguished faculty members. 

UD also awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2010. Speaking at that ceremony, UD President Patrick T. Harker said, “Without doubt, he's among UD's most respected scholars, and he's someone who embodies that word so fully -- someone whose entire life has been spent ravenously pursuing knowledge and generously dispensing it.”

The Young Scholars Award, which recognizes promising and accomplished faculty at UD, was named in his honor. In celebration of his 90th birthday in 2008, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers established the Gerard J. Mangone Prize to be awarded annually to the author of the best contribution published in the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law. 

With his remarkable energy and constant dedication to academic excellence, Dr. Mangone was an exemplary mentor, advising some 45 UD students in achieving graduate degrees. He wrote more than 20 books and edited 25 others, and authored scores of scholarly papers.

Dr. Mangone is survived by his daughter Cleopatra Victoria of California; daughter Regina Alexandra, her husband Lee, and her son Jack of Arizona; daughter Flaminia Mangone of Virginia; and his beloved companion Alberte Dionne of Canada. Dr. Mangone's wife of 42 years, Emma, preceded him in death.

A public viewing will be held at 1 p.m., Sunday, July 31, at the First Presbyterian Church, 292 West Main St., Newark, with a service following at 2 p.m. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy, University of Delaware.