Dr. Francis X. Mangan, known to students and colleagues as “Frank,” passed away on August 12th, at age 66.
Early Seeds: Growing and Researching
Dr. Mangan was a “lifer” at Stockbridge and UMass, coming first as a student of agriculture working in the lab of Dr. Bill Manning, alongside Dan Cooley (now Associate Director of the School). Mangan earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1986, and continued as a graduate student under Dr. Herb Marsh, sharing an office with PhD student Masoud Hashemi (now Graduate Program Director). “I remember that, even back then, he was interested in practicing his Spanish. He was interested in learning about other cultures and continuously asked me about my country,” said Hashemi.
After earning his master’s degree in weed science in 1991, Mangan joined the UMass Extension team as a specialist working for the university, and for the public at large. The combination of teaching, research and public outreach was “a new type of faculty position at the time,” according to Cooley, and is now a defining feature of the University.
Mangan began teaching while continuing to pursue his own research on cover cropping systems, under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Herbert, towards his PhD. “Frank was a pioneer in doing research on cover crops in Massachusetts,” said Hashemi, another of Dr. Herbert’s students who continues advancing the study of cover crops today.
A Dedicated and Influential Teacher
Upon earning his PhD in 1998, the UMass Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences (PSIS) was eager to hire Mangan as an Assistant Professor. In 2006, the PSIS department was re-organized under the historic name Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and Dr. Mangan was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.
Over a long career, both Mangan’s classes and his research have focused on 3 areas: vegetable marketing and production, ethnic crops, and urban agriculture. Alumni may remember taking his Sustainable Vegetable Production class, a precursor to today’s full Bachelor of Science program in Sustainable Food & Farming.
One such undergraduate student was Sarah Berquist (now Coordinator and Chief Advisor for the Sustainable Food & Farming major). “Frank brought his class on a field trip to the wholesale market in Boston as it was opening.
We left at 3am and arrived for the 5am launch. I remember him walking around the chaos of pallets, deliveries, and seemingly endless cases of fruits and vegetables, saying hi to many colleagues in the food system there.”
“Now, as faculty I can certainly appreciate him coordinating the eye-opening, behind-the-scenes, real experience for his students,” continued Berquist. “I have deep respect for how much Frank made happen.”
Finding Purpose as a Friend to Immigrant Communities
Mangan took an interest in supporting local immigrant communities by establishing production and marketing systems for herb and vegetable crops, such as hierba mora, peppers, pipian, and fava beans, popular among the large and growing immigrant communities in this region, especially native speakers of Spanish and Portuguese.
“Before Frank, there was never chipilín, taioba, jiló, produced in Massachusetts,” explains Zoraia des Jesus Barros, a PhD student and eventual research colleague who first met him in Brazil. “He gave multiple interviews to talk about and promote local ethnic crops. He taught students, farmers, gardeners to grow weird and different crops.”
Remembers Cooley, “It was a way of developing new markets for Massachusetts farmers, as well as giving immigrant communities foods that they valued and that could be difficult to find.” Mangan co-wrote “New England Farmers Meet Immigrant Needs” to promote his UMass-based initiative. His team also worked with nutritionists to develop nutritionally balanced and culturally appropriate recipes, such as this sofrito recipe, for these local immigrant groups.
Mangan traveled internationally, often to learn more about the ethnic crops he was working on. He learned additional languages to help propel his work—first Spanish, then Portuguese, and eventually Italian. “Frank spoke Portuguese, said Barros, “That made it easier for me to come to UMass. All of his students were from the countries of the immigrant groups that he worked with. Only one was from the U.S.”
Indeed, Mangan encouraged polyglots to see their value in the future of global food systems. Barros recalls his words to her. “The future of agriculture will be Urban Agriculture. You are perfect for this. You speak three languages and have lots of experience giving technical assistance to growers.”
Mangan was a member of the InterAmerican Society for Tropical Horticulture (ISTH) and had active relationships with researchers across Latin America, including Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.
Mangan was internationally published as well. His article “Production and Marketing of Vegetables for the Ethnic Markets in the United States” encouraged Brazilian farmers to cultivate deeper agricultural, economic, and cultural relationships with immigrant communities in the U.S.
“The soul of his Ethnic Crops Program were his students and the knowledge they brought to the table,” said Barros with appreciation. Much of Mangan’s research, into pest management and postharvest strategies for these new crops was done, with his students, at the UMass Research Farm in South Deerfield.
The website WorldCrops was built to make the information developed by his team freely available to the public. Since 2003, Massachusetts farmers have made over $5 million in retail sales of crops introduced by his research program.
Recent Accomplishments and Remembrances
In later years, Mangan served as Director for the Agricultural Learning Center, managed by the Stockbridge School, helping to develop the UMass Student Farm that sells fresh grown produce to today’s UMass Dining Commons. Today’s Agricultural Learning Center is the primary location for the Stockbridge Sustainable Food & Farming program.
One of Mangan’s goals was to have new crop growth and distribution systems that were both urban and sustainable. He founded the UMass Urban Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative to increase sustainable production, and consumption, of fruits and vegetables in Massachusetts.
In 2016 Mangan was thrilled to take students to Cuba for a memorable trip featuring his specialized course in Cuban Food Systems. Students at that time may have taken his popular course in Urban Agriculture.
Before retiring in 2020, Mangan was also recognized by the university as a full professor emeritus. After retirement, he was learning Italian and inviting Italian scientists to campus so that he could continue to learn more about the buy local / slow food movement and European food systems.
He leaves behind a legacy based in being a good human and a friend to all. His colleagues remember him fondly.
“Frank was a ‘doer’,” declared Cooley. “He saw a potential project that interested him, and he started involving people, getting money to support it, and working on it. He brought unique insights and approaches to his work at the Stockbridge School.”
“His teachings have been influential and inspirational to my personal and professional life,” said Berquist. “I will miss him!”
“He had great work ethics, was smart, and loved great food, remembers Barros. “I was very fortunate to travel for work with Frank to multiple countries. More than ten years learning from the best. He was a pioneer and promoter of Massachusetts agriculture, and always had farmers as his best interest.”
The smile in his photos also hints at Mangan’s lighter side. Over coffee, and together with Dr. Scott Ebden (retired), he kept a mental index of Seinfeld episodes, which the two often called upon to humorously relay the foibles of students, academics, and the food system itself.
“He had a quick sense of humor,” recalls Cooley. “He liked people, and people liked him. He touched a lot of people here, around the state, and around the world.”
Dr. Mangan’s obituary was published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. on the 11th floor of the Campus Center at UMass Amherst.