[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 8, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9992-S9993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          TRIBUTE TO DR. JOHNATHAN MANN AND DR. MARY LOU MANN

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I wish today to speak for a few 
moments about a terrible loss for the state of Massachusetts, and for 
all those around the world who care about our fight to cure AIDS. Among 
the dead in the crash of SwissAir flight 111 was a special couple, Dr. 
Jonathan Mann and Dr. Mary Lou Clement Mann. Both devoted their lives 
to finding a cure for AIDS, and today I join thousands of people all 
over this country and across the world in mourning the tragedy of 
SwissAir flight 111 and the loss of everyone on board. Jonathan and 
Mary Lou Clement Mann selflessly gave of themselves and cared for 
patients from Zaire to New Mexico, Boston to Geneva, embodying the best 
of their profession by bringing hope and comfort to countless 
individuals and families.
  Jonathan Mann was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1947 and graduated 
from Harvard College in 1969. After attending the Washington University 
School of Medicine in St. Louis, he returned to Boston for his formal 
entry into the medical profession. In 1975 he joined the Centers for 
Disease Control as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, and from 
1977 to 1984 he was the State Epidemiologist and Chief Medical Officer 
for the state of New Mexico.
  After receiving his Masters in Public Health from Harvard University 
in 1980, Dr. Mann returned to the CDC and it was then that AIDS became 
his primary, professional focus. During these years he established and 
directed the Zaire AIDS Research Project, which conducted the first 
comprehensive study of the disease on the continent where AIDS has 
brought the most widespread devastation and suffering. Dr. Mann's work 
there led him to the World Health Organization's Global Programme on 
AIDS in 1986, a post of global impact which he held until his return to 
Harvard's School of Public Health in 1990.
  Dr. Mann's involvement in this issue was total; his life and the 
fight to find a cure for AIDS soon became, in everyone's eyes, 
synonymous. Beyond his professional service to the cause, he 
participated in the AIDS Walk in Boston, World AIDS Day, and countless 
events, workshops, symposiums and conferences. His ultimate foe was the 
stigma that was attached to AIDS victims. His only weapons in the fight 
against AIDS were his passion, his intellect, and his belief in the 
truth, and with those tools he was well armed to fight his battle on 
the fields not just of science, but against a public that too often 
fell short of the compassion and humanity that a war on AIDS required. 
Dr. Mann was not afraid to declare that AIDS will not be beaten as long 
as we stigmatize those that fall victim to it. He was one of the first 
and unfortunately few researchers who took AIDS seriously in the 
infancy of the epidemic, when AIDS was still called GRIDS--gay-related 
immunodeficiency syndrome. Jonathan and Mary Lou Mann understood that 
AIDS was a challenge for every community in this country and he was not 
afraid to speak out and criticize anyone--an administration, a society, 
an entire nation--who denied that truth.
  Dr. Mann's work echoed from the best of human instincts: to reach out 
to those in need and to wield his power to alleviate suffering. We 
mourn the loss of Dr. Jonathan Mann and his wife Dr. Mary Lou Mann. On 
behalf of Massachusetts, the United States Senate, and all those who 
were fortunate

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enough to know these two gifted individuals, we remember them for their 
energy, their compassion for others, and realize that the world is 
better off for their time on this earth.

                          ____________________