Robert Perine Mann
Robert Perine Mann, well known investment banker and innovative business leader, a resident of The Sequoias, Portola Valley, CA and formerly of Atherton, CA died peacefully with his family on Friday, May, 8, 2015 at the age of 88. He was the former president of Davis, Skaggs and Company, of San Francisco, and a member of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1983 the company was sold to American Express and is now a part of Morgan Stanley.
He was born in Spencer, Iowa, on October 4, 1926. He was from one of Northern Iowa’s pioneering families. His grandfather, Albert Perine owned the local lumberyard company and was president of the local bank. His father Duane Mann had the honor of being captain of the University of Chicago baseball team for 4 years and then was drafted by the Chicago White Sox.
Robert was an outstanding athlete and also served as student body president his senior year in high school. It was in high school that he met Joanne (nee Bixby), his wife who passed December 20, 2012. In 1944 he enlisted in the United States Officer Training Program, was appointed by his congressman to the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and later was commissioned a Lt.jg, in the Supply Corps. After the war, he and Joanne were married and they immediately headed to Palo Alto, California where he attended Stanford University, graduating with a B.A. in economics in 1949.
Mr. Mann served as Chair of the Pacific Stock Exchange in 1973, and, despite strong lobbying by the city of Los Angeles, succeeded in keeping it located in San Francisco. He worked with the New York Stock Exchange with a view of creating a possible union of the two organizations; this failed to come to pass, due to government opposition. He also served on the board of directors of the regional committee whose role it was to advise the New York Stock Exchange.
Ironically, the Pacific Exchange today is part of the New York Stock Exchange, which now owns both exchanges.
Selected in 1976 as the San Francisco Investment Banker of the Year, he was a former chair of the National Association of Security Dealers, regional committee representing California, Nevada and Hawaii. Elected in 1978 to its national Board of Governors, he and his co-governors formed a new marketing system now known as the NASDAQ, today one of the largest trading systems in the world.
A member of the board of directors of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Mann was a director of the San Francisco Fine Arts Society, as well. He also served on the board of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, heading the investment committee during the lengthy planning process and throughout the years in which it was being constructed.
A skilled golfer from early on, he was a finalist for the State of Iowa Amateur Championship (1948). Later, he not only won the Menlo Country Club Championship numerous times, but also competed in the British and the French Amateurs, and many times, in the Bing Crosby ProAm (now the ATT ProAm) at Pebble Beach.
Mr. Mann belonged to the Bohemian Club, the Pacific Union Club, the Cypress Point Club, and was past president of the Menlo Country Club. Many of Robert and Joanne’s happiest times were spent at the Cypress Point Club, in Pebble Beach, California.
Robert and Joanne were generous of spirit and contributed to and volunteered at charitable organizations around the peninsula. They loved family and animals, spirited discussion and exploration. They were well traveled and loved dearly by family and friends.
Robert and his wife, Joanne shared 64 years of marriage before she passed on December 20, 2012. He is survived by three children, Linda Duane Davis of Redwood City, CA, Lisa Mann Olsheskie (Mark) of Andover, MA, and Erik Robert Mann of San Mateo, CA as well as six grandchildren: Carlin Emily Davis Arata, (Daniel), Mary Claire Olsheskie, Amy Elisabeth Olsheskie Black, (Chad), Molly Moriah Mann, Jordan Alexander Mann and Robert Payne Mann. Robert and Joanne leave a great granddaughter, Finley Jane Arata. We all want to sincerely thank both Elsa Abraham and Yeshi Wolde for their very loving care.
Funeral services were private, both his and Joanne’s ashes together will be distributed at sea as well as at Pebble Beach, CA and Lake Okoboji, IA. They shared wonderful lives together with a dignified ending. They are now both missed terribly. May their memories be always for a blessing.
Donations in his memory may be made to either Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital or the Stanford University Hospital Chaplaincy (Department of Patient Relations and Community Services.)