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>Nicholas B. Mangione
>By Jacques Kelly | jkelly@baltsun.com
>UPDATED: October 26, 2018 at 7:47 PM EST
In 1949, after study at the Maryland Institute evening school, Mr. Mangione became a contractor, laying bricks while his partner, Michael Demarino, did the estimating. Several years later, he bought out his partner and continued working 14- to 16-hour days.
In newspaper interviews, Mr. Mangione said his motivation for hard work was his wife, Mary – “the best thing that ever happened to me” – and their growing family of five sons and five daughters.
“I was telling my wife as each child was born that I had to work that much harder,” he said in the 1995 interview. “God would provide the job I needed, and I would make the low bid. Every time my wife had a baby, there was another job to build.”
After two decades of government contracting, he began building and owning nursing homes, office buildings and hospitals – including Fallston General in Harford County.
Family members said Mr. Mangione dreamed of creating a signature project, Turf Valley Golf and Country Club, now Turf Valley Resort, which he purchased in 1978. They said he was an entrepreneur and took risks.
“Tongues started wagging,” Mr. Mangione said in the article. “People [were] wondering where an unknown Italian could get the money for a $5 million project. In those days, there were no Italians in real visible positions [in Howard County]. People thought I needed money from the Mafia to buy this place. They asked me what family I belonged to. I told them, ‘I belong to the Mangione family. The Mangione family of Baltimore County.’ “
Mr. Mangione said he caught a whiff of bigotry in the early 1970s while playing golf as a guest at the Baltimore Country Club and at the Elkridge Club.
“It was because I was Italian, plain and simple,” he said.
Over the years, Mr. Mangione was given numerous honors – he was named the Outstanding Business Person of the Year by the Pikesville Chamber of Commerce and he supported many charities, including Loyola College, the Association of Italian-American Charities, Associated Jewish Charities and the Baltimore Opera Company.
Mr. Mangione, who liked to listen to talk radio, bought WCBM-AM nearly 20 years ago.
“He was a man of his word. He was also a tough negotiator,” said Tom Marr, a WCBM radio host. “At the station, he was not a micromanager, but he was a microlistener. He loved talk radio.”
The 1995 Sun profile described Mr. Mangione as “relaxed, warm, gracious and hospitable,” but went on to say that when he talked about government bureaucracy, his demeanor changed.
“His body tenses and his voice becomes agitated. In that moment, he appears the embodiment of anger,” the profile said.
“If people treat me in a fair and honest way, we get along fine,” Mr. Mangione said.
Although he played golf once a week, he practiced by hitting balls into a field, which his sons would catch with baseball gloves.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Isaac Jogues Roman Catholic Church, 9400 Old Harford Road.
In addition to his son and wife of 58 years, the former Mary Cuba, survivors include four other sons, Louis Mangione, John Dino Mangione, Nicholas Mangione Jr. and Peter Mangione, all of Towson; five daughters, Rosemary Juras of Ellicott City, and Linda Licata, Joanne Hock, Frances O’Keefe and Michelle Collison, all of Towson; a sister, Frances Marchese of Kingsville; and 37 grandchildren.
Originally Published: November 4, 2008 at 12:00 AM EST