Dr. Clarke Wilson Mangun, Jr.

Dr. Clarke Wilson Mangun, Jr. passed away on May 12th, 2022 at the age of 103 years old.

Born in Iowa Falls, Iowa in 1919, Dr. Mangun received his B.A. degree from the State University of Iowa in 1940 and his M.D. in 1943. He was commissioned in the Army in 1945, and in 1947 received his Master of Public Health Degree from the Columbia University School of Public Health.

Following a rotating internship at the public Health Service Hospital on Staten Island, New York, he served with the Army in World War II. His early work in the Public Health Service was in the field of Tuberculosis control. From 1945 to 1950, he directed TB control activities in the Florida and Kentucky State Health Departments, and in the City Health Department of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

In 1950, Dr. Mangun was assigned to the American Mission for Aid to Greece in Athens, Greece, through the U.S. Department of State and the Mutual Security Agency. In 1959, he was promoted to the position of Associate Regional Health Director for Community Health, with coordination and general responsibilities for all the Community Health Programs of Region V in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1962, he was promoted to the position of Regional Health Director for Region V. This position carried the overall responsibility for the Public Health Service for the regional as the representative for the Surgeon General. His communication was with state and national officials in the fields of Public Health, Mental Health and Environmental Pollution Control.

In 1965, he was transferred to Washington as the Chief of Public Health Administration Branch. The Branch was the administrative center for the Public Health Service Programs for alcoholism, school health, the medical support for the Cuban Refugee Program, the Draft Rejectee Rehabilitation Program, and Comprehensive Health Planning. The latter program helped develop what became Public Law 87-749, which dealt with improved procedures for the Federal Role in support of health planning and public health programming.

Upon retirement from the Public Health Service in 1966, he accepted the position of Assistant Director of the Department of Research and Education of the American Hospital Association. In 1967, he briefly served as the Medical Director of the Stroke Rehabilitation Demonstration Program of the Chicago Heart Association. In 1967, Clarke created and administered the Physicians Recognition Award program for the American Medical Association. He also supervised accreditation surveys for seven medical schools. Following retirement from the AMA in 1982, Clarke reviewed medical records for the defense of product liability suits and claims for Abbott Laboratories until 1997.

Dr. Mangun was certified by the American Board of Preventative Medicine and Public Health, was a Fellow of the American Public Health Association, a Charter Member of the American College of Preventative Medicine, a member of the American Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, and the Chicago Medical Society.

Clarke was preceded in death by his wife, Edith Lauretta DuBois Mangun; parents Dr. Clarke W. Mangun, Sr. and Vallie Hazel Huffman Mangun. He is survived by his daughters Edith A. (Edie) Mangun Ballweg and husband Joseph Ballweg, Laura Jane Mangun King and husband James Trapnell King, Sr., and Nancy Mangun VanWechel and husband Ron VanWechel; grandchildren Virginia Collins King, Laura Ainsworth King Grant and husband Samuel Gilmore Grant, Elizabeth Sellman King, James Trapnell King, Jr.; and a great-grandson Clarke Gilmour Grant.

A visitation will be held on Monday, May 16th, 2022 from 6 to 7 pm at the Amos Family Funeral Home in Shawnee, Kansas. Clarke will be laid to rest next to Edith at Leavenworth National Cemetery in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Memorial Contributions in honor of Clarke may be made to the American Heart Association, or to the Lakeview Village Foundation. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Dr. Clarke Wilson Mangun, Jr., please visit our floral store.