Nicholas Mangione launched his first business enterprise in a modest office on North Avenue in Baltimore in 1950.
Commercial Contractors, Inc., was so strapped for cash that it had to rely on Mangione’s landlord to answer phones, the prominent Baltimore entrepreneur told the Catholic Review in a 2000 interview. And there were many times when Mangione asked the landlord to hold his checks a few days until he had money in his bank account, he said.
From those humble roots, Mangione went on to build a local business empire that included the Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center; Mangione Family Enterprises; Pikesville Hilton Inn; Hayfields Country Club; WCBM, WWLG and WASA radio stations; Lorien Health Systems Facilities and more.
Hand in hand with its business ventures, the Mangione family became one of the most generous donors to a wide variety of charitable causes, including Catholic ministries.
Nicholas and his wife, Mary, parishioners of St. Isaac Jogues in Carney, gave millions of dollars to the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Heritage of Hope capital campaign, parish construction projects, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi and what is now Loyola University Maryland, where Nicholas Mangione served on the board of directors and where a pool bears the Mangione name.
The Mangiones provided the funds for the purchase of the St. John’s Bible on permanent display at Loyola-Notre Dame Library. The scoreboard in the athletic complex at Mercy High School in Baltimore carries the family name. Several other parishes and Catholic institutions also benefited from the Mangiones’ generosity.
Baltimore’s Catholic community and the Mangione family have been shaken by news that Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old grandson of Nicholas and Mary Mangione, was arrested Dec. 9 and charged with the Dec. 4 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Luigi Mangione is the son of Louis Mangione, one of Nicholas and Mary’s 10 children. The murder suspect was the 2016 class valedictorian at Gilman School in Baltimore, one of the most prestigious private boys’ schools in Maryland.
A Dec. 9 family statement posted by Nino Mangione, one of Luigi Mangione’s cousins and a Baltimore County Republican serving in the Maryland House of Delegates, said the family is “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”
“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” the family wrote. “We are devastated by this news.”
Nicholas Mangione died in 2008. Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler and Jesuit Father Brian Linane, then president of Loyola University Maryland, concelebrated the funeral Mass at St. Isaac Jogues.
Mary Mangione died last year. A memorial Mass was offered at Alumni Memorial Chapel on Loyola’s Evergreen campus.
In the 2000 interview with the Catholic Review, Nicholas Mangione noted that when he married in 1950, he and his wife often worked together at the kitchen table until late at night to prepare job estimates for his business. With each birth of their children, Mangione told the Catholic Review, the company was blessed with a new construction contract.
“We always said it was a gift from God, both the baby and the new job,” he said. “Without her running the whole house and minding the kids, we wouldn’t be where we are today. I got all the glory and she did all the work.”
Mangione, who sent all 10 of his children to St. Anthony of Padua School in Gardenville – six of whom graduated from Loyola University Maryland – said he wanted to support Catholic causes “as a payback for what the good Lord gave me.”
“I feel that all Catholics who have been successful should support the church, if not the global church, then at least the parish,” he said, “because without God, what the heck have we got?”
Mangione was in the sixth grade of St. James School, near Aisquith and Eager streets, when his father died, according to the Catholic Review article. The death caused financial hardships for the Italian-American family.
Mangione served in the Navy during the Second World War, obtaining a high-school equivalency after returning to civilian life. He worked as a bookkeeper while he studied accounting at the Baltimore Business College.
“We’re a family that stays together, prays together and takes care of one another,” Mangione said. “The most meaningful to me is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org
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