Manus passed away peacefully, in the loving care of his family, on March 5, 2021 after a brief illness. Until his last days he was still playing golf, rooting for his beloved St. John's Red Storm basketball team, and enjoying pictures and stories of his four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. He had a great zest for life and loved his family deeply.

Manus was born in Brooklyn in 1932. He was named after his father.  He thought of his Dad as "the toughest man he ever knew" and he was enormously proud of his contributions to WWII. He loved his mother, Margaret, dearly and it was mutual.

The early part of his life was hard and, as it was for most Americans, shaped by the Great Depression and then WWII. However, Manus' early memories were happy ones. As a boy, he was surrounded by his loving extended Irish family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. He loved his Brooklyn Dodgers, going to Ebbets Field, rooting for the Army Football team, and playing neighborhood baseball and basketball. He fondly remembered walking across the street to get a milk pail of beer for his father from the local pub or using the one phone on the street at the candy store down the block.

He talked about hearing the birth of his younger brother and future best man, Martin, upstairs in their Brooklyn home.  He recalled working with Martin, first at the World's Fair in Queens and later as teachers in the same school together. Manus would tell his kids - when they complained about hardships - that he and his brother shared the same twin bed until Manus was 17! He and Martin were lifelong best friends and encouraged that friendship to continue in their own children. Though Martin pre-deceased Manus, Martin's wife Madeline was a sister and treasured friend to the end.

After college at St. John's University, Manus met the love of his life, Anita (nee Courtney), and they were married in 1962.  Manus was just as in love with Anita almost 60 years later as he was in those early days.  He felt like he won the lottery every day until Anita passed in 2015.  The Courtney family widened Manus' circle to include many more beloved in-laws and nieces and nephews.

Together Manus and Anita had four children. Manus, Tim, Colleen, and Erin will deeply cherish their parents' love and guidance forevermore. They were revered in-laws and dear friends to Margaret Meara Clancy, Tim Sullivan, and John Prokop.  They were blessed with nine grandchildren - Joseph (Samantha), Manus (Lindsay), Teresa, Caroline, Matthew, John, James, Kate and Maggie. Recently, Manus happily took on the title of Great-Grandfather with the arrivals of Johnny and Lucy.

Professionally, Manus was an educator. First as a teacher then as an assistant superintendent at Hicksville Public Schools on Long Island and lastly a principal at Woodland Avenue Elementary School in Hicksville.  Along the way, he obtained his Doctorate in History from St. John's. (Anita typed his dissertation!)

Manus took his job very seriously. He believed a good education was the ticket out of poverty for all as it was for him. He worked as hard as possible to make sure that his students got his best effort every day. As a principal, he encouraged his staff to bring that same attitude every morning.

Along the way, he made longstanding friendships - first with his neighborhood friends in Brooklyn and Queens and later in Stony Brook, NY and Shoreham, NY where he spent the final 44 years of his life. He loved his golf buddies, camping buddies and his work friends.  He was a lifelong fan of the Mets, Rangers, Giants and Red Lobster.

Manus lived the American dream: he formed great bonds and relationships, got a solid education, shared that education with others, married the girl of his dreams and made her dreams come true, worked hard every day to provide for his family, bought the perfect home for his wife and kids, reveled in the accomplishments and happiness of his kids and grandkids, enjoyed the company and camaraderie of friends and family and left the world a better place for those who loved him.  As he said in his final days -- he wouldn't have changed a thing!

The family will hold a Funeral Mass on Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 10:30 am at St. Anthony's of Padua, 614 Route 25-A, Rocky Point, NY 11778.  A luncheon will follow for all.