Robert Hendrick Manning
Robert H. Manning
MARQUETTE, MI – Robert Hendrick Manning, 82, passed away at UP Health System on May 30, 2024, after surgery and a brief illness. Robert’s parents, immigrants from Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands, escaped to the Netherlands East Indies in 1938. Robert was born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies, on August 23, 1941, shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The family subsequently suffered during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch Indies while held in civilian internment camps. They migrated to the United States when Robert was 7 years old, following the war.
Robert’s high school years were spent at Lane Technical High School and on the waterfront at the Chicago Yacht Club, where he learned to sail. After graduating high school in 1959, he joined the Merchant Marine and shipped aboard a sulfur tanker as an apprentice seaman sailing out of Boston. Realizing that tanker life was not the career he wanted, Robert joined the Coast Guard. It changed his life. He graduated from radio school to USCGC EASTWIND and, after nine months, including four months in the Antarctic, transferred to the permanent party at the USCG Academy, New London, CT. There, he taught sailing to cadets, helping Coast Guard sailing teams improve their skills on the academy’s 62′ yawl, MANITOU (CG-62012). Robert had sailed in MANITOU while in high school, competing in the 1958 Chicago-Mackinac Race before the Kroehler family donated her to the Coast Guard Academy. Robert was also assigned as Skipper aboard MANITOU when the yacht was frequently used by President John F. Kennedy.
Robert separated from the Coast Guard to attend Northern Michigan University and, in 1964, joined the WNMU radio staff. His role at NMU eventually included becoming the University’s Director of Audiovisual Services, which he continued until 1993 when he took on the role of Development Director at Bresnan Communications (Spectrum). Following his retirement from Bresnan, Robert worked for several individuals as a licensed captain aboard private yachts.
During his professional life, Robert supported the community through involvement with organizations such as the Marquette-Alger County Medical Society, Rotary, the Marquette Maritime Museum, the Chicago Yacht Club Race Committee, and the Hiawatha Amateur Radio Association (N8SKI).
Robert was passionate about anything related to sailing or life at sea. He was well-known for his seamanship skills and for mentoring those who sought to become proficient sailors on the lakes
and oceans. From yacht deliveries for others to sailing his own 45′ catch, CHICAGO, Robert was happiest when he was on the water.
Robert is preceded in death by his parents, Wilhelm and Gertrude Manning; an older sister, Katrina, who succumbed to malnutrition in a Japanese internment camp in Surabaya, Java; a younger brother, Max, killed in action serving in the Israel Defense Forces (Tzahal) during the Yom Kippur war in 1973; and his cousin, Gus Gutman.
Robert is survived by his sister-in-law, Barbara; her husband, Professor Jonathan Pollack, Ph.D.; niece, Deena; her husband, Dan Messinger; and their two sons, Max and Isaac.
Robert was an organ donor and donated his body to the Northern Michigan University Center for Forensic Anthropology (CFA).
Honoring Robert’s wishes, no service will be held. In lieu of flowers, Robert requested that memorials be directed to the United States Coast Guard Foundation online at coastguardfoundation.org.
Fassbender Swanson Hansen Funeral and Cremation Services is serving the family, where condolences may be expressed online at fassbenderswansonhansen.com.