2009
Richard T. "R.T." Manning, 80, a retired Navy captain who served as a fighter pilot and military liaison
officer, died Feb. 11 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital of pulmonary and cardiovascular complications
following bowel surgery.
Capt. Manning, an Alexandria resident, served in the Navy from 1946 to 1977. His final active-duty
assignment was heading the Office of Legislative Affairs' congressional committee liaison team, which
among other things advocated for budget increases for the Navy. His decorations included the Bronze Star.
In retirement, he spent four years at Rye (N.Y.) High School to establish and teach a Navy Junior Reserve
Officers Training Corps unit.
Richard Thomas Manning was born in Trenton, N.J., and raised in Washington, where he graduated in 1946
from Anacostia High School and was senior class vice president. He received a bachelor's degree from
George Washington University during his military career.
In 1955, as a young flier based at the Naval Air Station in Miramar, Calif., he collided with another plane and
had to eject at a dangerously low altitude.
His marriages to Phoebe Reed, Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Hall and Florence Baldiga ended in divorce.
Survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, Laura Johnson of Silver Spring; two sons from his
second marriage, Robert Manning of Stockholm and William Manning of Billings, Mont.; five stepchildren,
Susan Zimmerman of Boulder, Colo., Mark Bayliss of Annapolis, Michael Bayliss of Mason Neck, Va., Donna
Gearhart of Winchester, Va., and Laurie Wlosinski of Silver City, N.M.; two sisters, Jane Manning of
Bethesda and Marjorie Pruden of Valdosta, Ga.; 12 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein