Submitted by the family
ALISO VIEJO, CALIF. — A pioneering advertising executive and chief executive officer, as well as a collector, philanthropist, adventurer and community anchor, Richard Manney passed away in Aliso Viejo on July 2 at the age of 88 after a long illness.
Born in New York City in 1936, he was raised in the Bronx, educated at the La Guardia High School of Performing Arts and Taft High School and City College of New York (now CUNY).
Trained as an actor but always a salesman, and with an absent father and an ill mother, Richard supported his family from age 12, delivering newspapers and selling the Encyclopedia Britannica door to door. As a child, he was a passionate reader, moviegoer and collector of science fiction and fantasy books and magazines.
As a teen, the New York Public Library system did not carry science fiction until Richard politely harassed the librarians every week as he exchanged one pile of books for the next. One day, a librarian slid a copy of a Robert Heinlein juvenile paperback across the desk, saying, “Richard, this is for you. The New York Public Library will carry them from now on.” From that point, he read every piece of science fiction and fantasy available, because he was poor and they were free.
In 1963, he married clothing designer Gloria Peltz. They met on a blind date at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an institution which would figure in their lives in an unexpectedly large fashion. In 1964, his only child, Patricia, was born.
Richard’s entrepreneurial vision impacted new industries. In 1958, at the age of 22, Richard created his first company in the new business of television product promotion, connecting manufacturers with game shows. At the 1964 N.Y. World’s Fair, he helped launch a booth with world’s first version of “Yelp.” Called Directomat, Inc., a mainframe computer that would choose the perfect restaurant, hotel or attraction after you pressed criteria buttons. Directomat was the first computer search engine for food and entertainment options for the World’s Fair attendees and he sold advertising on the response cards.
In 1966, he created The Mediators, Inc., the first standalone media buying service in advertising. He innovated barter ad sales, international countertrade and other product-to-advertising sales innovations allowing companies that were product rich, but cash poor to advertise for the first time. At various times, and because of the large quantity of product exchanged for advertising, he was briefly the largest US distributor of California wine, carbonated beverages and seller of computers into China, learning each new industry as he sold their products. Gloria was often the behind-the-scenes mastermind for some of his greatest sales and innovations. Clients included Eastman Kodak, Sony, Timex, DHL and Apple.
Meanwhile, after being taught to drive by New York City cabbies, he served as a medic and ambulance driver in the Air National Guard. He kept those devil-may-care driving skills the rest of his life, terrifying anyone in his car. His daughter’s friends dubbed him “the master of time and space” and “molecule man” for his ability to maneuver a huge Cadillac or Lincoln into the smallest holes in traffic without any warning. He also maintained his medic skills, known in his family as Dr Manney while applying his first aid knowledge. There was no accident that couldn’t be cured with either an application of antibiotic ointment aka ‘magic salve,’ a pack of ice, elevation/compression or a chiropractic adjustment.
After moving with his family to Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., in 1969, he participated in community life through philanthropy and advice with the restoration of the Town Hall Library and served with the Irvington Historical Society.
Along with Gloria, they created definitive collections of art, antiques and books, working with curators to advance knowledge in any area they collected by helping write seminal texts and assemble museum shows on the subjects of American portrait miniatures, the furniture of John Henry Belter and American Federal furniture. Their most famous collections are housed at museums around the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Winterthur Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. All that started with taking their dinners on trays as they climbed under furniture with a flashlight to study Nineteenth Century wood joinery.
Richard’s honors and memberships included: Benefactor in Perpetuity and William Cullen Bryant Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Member of the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution; Board of Trustees of the Winterthur Museum, where their collection of Belter furniture — the largest in the world — resides; Board of Trustees of Olana, home of painter Frederick Church; Member of the Explorer’s Club, Grolier Club and Metropolitan Club; Knight of Malta; Boys’ Towns of Italy (aka A Chance in Life) Man of the Year Award.
Richard was a well-known rare book collector. The Sotheby’s sale of The Library of Richard Manney in 1991 was considered one of the most important rare book sales of the Twentieth Century. The collection of first editions, presentation copies and manuscripts was deeply personal, including his beloved science fiction and fantasy, works that changed the world from Shakespeare to Newton to Hitler, and manuscripts by his favorite writers, like Dickens and O’Casey. His collection of original screenplays and movie memorabilia, often signed and owned by the moviemakers themselves, was considered one of the best of its kind.
He leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Gloria, his daughter and son-in-law, Patricia (PJ) Manney and Eric Gruendemann, and his grandchildren, Nate Gruendemann and his wife Allie Schlosser, and Hannah Gruendemann. Richard also leaves behind his nephew, Steven Manney, and niece Rachel Szycher and her family.
The family will conduct a private ceremony. In lieu of flowers, consider a gift to the Alzheimer’s Association, A Chance in Life (previously Boys’ and Girls’ Town of Italy), or your local museum or live theater institution. A Zoom meeting, “Remembrances of Richard,” will take place on Saturday, July 27, at noon PT/3 pm ET.
