Manny, 87, died May 11, 2021, in Rocklin, California. He was born in Pennsylvania, spent three years in the Marines and then went to Montana after seeing the movie "Red Skies of Montana." He became a smokejumper during the summer of 1958 and a Grizzly at the University of Montana. While there, he played baseball for the Grizzlies. In 1960, he graduated with a bachelor's in Forestry Engineering, a five-year program and the first of its kind. After attending the Colorado State University in Fort Collins, he received his master's in Watershed Management, then on to the University of British Columbia where he studied for his Ph.D. in Urban Regional Planning.

In 1970, he returned home and taught at the University of Montana and then developed the Surveying Program and taught at Flathead Valley Community College when it first opened. During this time, he also had his own business as a land surveyor and enjoyed flying his Mooney all over the country while going to horse shows with his daughter and baseball games with his son. Manny spent the last 20-plus years at his summer home in the West Kootenai.