MANN, FREDERIC RAND

MANN, FREDERIC RAND (Maniyevich; 1903–1987), U.S. public figure. Mann, who was born in Gomel, Russia, was taken to the U.S. at the age of two. A successful businessman, he had a varied public career. He was appointed a member of the U.S. Mint Assay Commission in 1943, served as director of commerce and city representative of Philadelphia, and as a Pennsylvania commissioner of the Delaware River Port Authority. President Johnson appointed Mann the first U.S. ambassador to Barbados (1967) and U.S. special representative to the Caribbean islands of Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts-Nevis (1968). Active in Jewish affairs, Mann was vice president of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, a founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which is housed in the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv bearing his name, and treasurer of Dropsie College in Philadelphia. The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, built in 1976, also bears its benefactor's name. One of the largest outdoor amphitheaters in the United States, it seats 4,000 under cover and an additional 10,000 in the open air.