George Mann ’39

Researcher and educator Dr. George Mann ’39 died July 17 at age 95.

Mann was a professor at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Tenn., and noted medical researcher on the effects of cholesterol on human heart health. He was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and graduated from Cornell College with a degree in chemistry. He obtained a Doctor of Science in biochemistry and a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1945. In 1958 he moved to Vanderbilt University where he became a professor in medicine and biochemistry and a career investigator with the National Institutes of Health, positions he held until his retirement in 1987. During the 1960s and 1970s Mann conducted field studies on the effects of human diet on cholesterol levels, which led him to a contrarian viewpoint that human heart disease was not the result of the consumption of foods that are high in cholesterol, but are instead the result of other factors, such as lack of exercise. He is survived by five children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.