DONALD CAMERON MANN obituary

DONALD CAMERON MANN Obituary

memphis, Tennessee, United States

January 31, 1949 - September 20, 2014

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DONALD CAMERON MANN obituary

DONALD CAMERON MANN Obituary

Jan 31, 1949 - Sep 20, 2014

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Donald Cameron Mann, native Memphian and a dynamic entrepreneur and businessman, died September 20, 2014 at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, at the age of 65. He was very active until his last two weeks of life, living life to the fullest and on his own terms, as he always had. He was born on January 31, 1949 to Jane Treadwell and Cameron Mann. He was a student at PDS before attending Columbia Military Academy, MUS and later the Hill School until he matriculated to Brown University in 1968, majoring in Creative Writing. At Brown, he would hone the wordsmith skills that became one of his hallmark talents. Also during college, he met his first wife, Natacha Plotnikoff, after he and longtime friend Joel Fulmer spotted her in the bookstore and hatched a plan to meet her which involved knocking on her door to ask to borrow a blanket in the middle of summer. After marrying in Southampton, NY in 1972, they would go on to share over 27 years together and have one son, Cameron Alexander Mann. After graduating from Brown, Don briefly attended Rhode Island School of Design and studied furniture design as well as UNC where he studied architecture. Later, Don enrolled at Columbia University where he completed his MBA. While in business school, Don and Ed Grosvenor founded Portfolio Magazine, a fine arts magazine published in the 1970s and 1980s. He started his professional career in advertising at Bloom and Gelb in Manhattan shortly there-after. In 1982, Don was persuaded to return to Memphis by John Malmo to start Malmo Direct, the first Direct Marketing Division of any agency in Memphis. There he would spearhead one of the early city pride campaigns, “Start Something Great in Memphis.” Practicing what he preached, he started Fusion Marketing Group in 1986. Fusion became the industry pioneer and leader in the world of database marketing, introducing new, targeted and specialized credit card products for their bank clients such as the Elvis Presley Card, and the company was headquartered in Downtown Memphis. A lifelong fan and supporter of Memphis music and musicians, Don decided to try his hand at the music business after selling Fusion to the Axciom Corporation. In 2001, Don purchased a property on Young Avenue and, along with his son, built a world-class recording studio with the help of legendary British studio designer, Alan Stewart, who also built Electric Lady for Jimi Hendrix in New York and the Penthouse Suite for the Beatles Abbey Road Studio. Don dedicated over ten years of his life working with and for Memphis musicians by putting out records for local artists. In 1998, Don married Donna Reed and embarked on a life of adventure for 15 years. The two enjoyed traveling to exotic destinations and drove very fast in some fun, classic automobiles. They spent several years residing in Franklin, TN before Don’s return to Memphis more recently in early 2014. Throughout his life, Don was a lifelong car enthusiast and was a regular at such events as the Monterrey/Pebble Beach Car show, Amelia Island Concourse, and the Cavallino Classic at the Breakers in Palm Beach. Cars were a passion he shared with his brother Barlow and which started with their father, Cameron. He was a member of the Gullwing Group, the Ferrari Club of America, and was a Graduate of the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. He was also the co-author of The New Age of Financial Services Marketing: A Hands-on Applications Guide to Harnessing the Power of Database Marketing, a book used at North-western University’s Graduate School of Business. He is survived by his son, Cameron Mann (Amy) of Memphis, TN; his brother, Barlow Mann (Roma) of Memphis, TN; two nephews, Barlow Mann Jr. (Alexandra) of London, England and Lawson Mann of New Orleans, LA; two former spouses, Natacha Mann of Memphis, TN and Donna Marie Reed of Franklin, TN and her children, Bryan Vaux and Brittany Vaux, both of Memphis, TN. He was predeceased by his mother, Jane Snowden Treadwell, his father, Cameron Mann, sister, Evelyn Mann, maternal grandparents: Arthur Barlow Treadwell and Jane Villalonga Treadwell, paternal grandparents: Donald Peter Mann and Madeleine Myers Hildreth. A Memorial Service will be 2 p.m., Thursday, September 25 at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 700 Poplar Ave, Memphis, TN 38105. Andy Andrews will officiate. Reception to follow at St. Mary’s after the service. Memorial donation suggestions: The Lustgarten Foundation, 111 Stewart Ave, Bethpage, NY. 11714 www.lustgarten.org/donate or The Baptist Memorial Foundation Friends of Nursing Fund, 350 N. Humphreys Blvd, Memphis, TN. 38120 www.bmhgiving.org Thanks to the nurses and doctors and hospice volunteers at Baptist Memorial Healthcare and to his Doctors at Davidson Medical Center and the Sarah Cannon Research Foundation.
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