Brad Mann grew up with his mom telling him one thing.
“Bloom where you are planted,” he recalled her telling him.
His father did just that during his life, Brad Mann said. His dad, Dr. Robert Mann, was a beloved and generous pediatrician who served the Arlington and Mansfield communities. Dr. Mann, 87, died May 9.
“He leaves a flowery land where he’s planted,” Brad Mann said.
Dr. Mann grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts, and began his medical career after earning his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1964. After completing multiple pediatric internships and residencies, he served as chief of newborn services at Wilford Hall U.S. Air Force Hospital in San Antonio.
A photo of Dr. Robert Mann early in his career. (Courtesy | The Mann Family)
He later opened his own private pediatric practice in Quincy before moving to Arlington in 1971. He served the Arlington community until 1995, when he joined the Cook Children’s Physician Network in Mansfield.
Dr. Clive Daniels, a longtime colleague of Dr. Mann, remembered his friend’s natural ability to love people and his sense of humor.
“We’re a generation apart, but it’s interesting. Our practice styles really meshed,” Daniels said. “We managed to practice for 20 years together.”
Dr. Mann practiced for nearly five decades until he retired in 2025. His practice was unique because he served one particular community, Daniels said.
“He sometimes knew four generations of people in the same family,” Daniels added. “He really had sort of an effortless encyclopedic knowledge of these families that he had followed for so long.”
Dr. Robert Mann smiling and posing with a refugee child during a medical mission trip in Albania. (Courtesy | The Mann Family)
Dr. Mann was known for his generosity of services and traveled globally on medical and humanitarian missions. He provided medical services to refugees in Turkey, Iraq and Albania, and facilitated the shipment of a hospital in Ukraine.
He practiced this generosity locally as well, Brad Mann recounted, noting how often his dad saw patients free of charge. He believed what propelled his father forward in serving his community was his strong Christian faith.
“My dad gave so much of his career away for free in the early years, pro bono, to people who couldn’t afford medical treatment, or people who were missionaries, or working for the church. He gave free service to all his children, friends,” Brad Mann said. “As a result, he wasn’t able to retire, but he didn’t mind a bit. He didn’t want to retire, so he was kind of a jolly little worker.”
Sheryl Osborn was a young Arlington mother with two young daughters when she first brought her children to see Dr. Mann. Osborn couldn’t afford regular check-ups and said that Dr. Mann instead provided services in the nurses’ room, free of charge.
Around that time, Osborn said her youngest daughter had issues latching during breastfeeding, so she switched to formula. She received heavy criticism from community members and friends and ended up breaking down in tears at Dr. Mann’s office.
Dr. Robert Mann in an exam room checking the heart beat of a newborn baby. (Courtesy | The Mann Family)
“He took me by the shoulders, and he said, ‘Sheryl, you don’t listen to them. If they keep bothering you, tell them to come see me. I’ll take care of it,’” Osborn said, sharing that some of the women who criticized her had children who were patients of Dr. Mann.
“He was an advocate for his patients, for his patients’ parents, and in making sure that the parents were educated on what we needed to do,” Osborn said.
Mann’s generosity and love for his community led to the naming of the Dr. Bob Mann Medical Clinic at Mission Arlington, an affordable and accessible health clinic located in Arlington.
Tillie Burgin, the executive director of Mission Arlington, said Dr. Mann was instrumental in shaping the nonprofit through his strong network of those willing to help give to Mission Arlington.
“He’d stay late, come early, if there was someone needing to be seen, if anybody just needed to have a visit, he always made time for folks. … He extended his life into the community,” Burgin said. “He was a man who was consistent with integrity. He did what he said he would do.”
Bianca Rodriguez-Mora is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at bianca@fortworthreport.org.
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