JOSEPH JAUNUTIS "JOE" MANKUS, SR.

Joe Mankus, 83, of Dagsboro, DE passed away on Saturday, May 18, 2024 with his loving wife Carole Anne of 62 years nearby.

Joe was born near the beginning of World War II in Alytus, Lithuania, the second of 3 sons, to Jonas Mankevicius (a local police chief) and Joana Lukosiunaite (school teacher). Due to the fact that the family was on the list for deportation to Russia's Siberia, the family departed Lithuania in the Fall of 1944 for safer havens. After 5 years in Germany Displaced Person Camps, the family arrived September 1949 via ship in New York City and settled in Binghamton, NY with the sir name of Mankus.

Joe was a good student and athlete, lettering in football, basketball and baseball at Binghamton Central High School. This helped him receive a full scholarship at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned his Chemical Engineering degree while playing 4 years of football, followed by an MBA in Marketing 2 years later. He met the love of his life, Carole Anne Kautz, a nursing student at Penn in May 1962, and married her shortly thereafter.

Joe's business career started in1964 with Shell Chemical Company in Manhattan, which lasted until 1969, interrupted for 2 years in between for active duty in the US Army at Fort Benning, GA and Fort Leonard Wood, MO. He then joined The Lubrizol Corporation, now 100% owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which lasted 34 plus years in various sales and business management positions, starting in Ridgewood, NJ, then Wilmington, DE and finally at headquarters in Wickliffe, OH. He traveled regularly in the USA and Internationally to grow the business he was responsible for. His main goal during his working years was to make sure his family members had a better life than he experienced in his youth.

Joe retired at the end of 2003 and moved into a house he helped design and had built on the Cripple Creek golf course with a view of Indian River Bay in July of 2004 and enjoyed frequent visits from family and friends. He also enjoyed playing golf regularly with the "Ball In The Hat" group. He and Carole Anne also loved European River Boat Cruises and been on almost all that were available. Trips to Lithuania, after it became free again, were memorable.

Joe was preceded in death by his parents, his older brother John, Grace his wife, his brother John's son William and daughter in law Debbie. He is survived by his wife Carole Anne, daughters Katherine Simmons (Robert) and Cynthia Mankus, and son Joseph J. "Jay" Jr. (Leanne), granddaughters Elizabeth Simmons, Rachael Lanese (Ben) and Lydia Mankus, and grandsons James A. (Emma) and Daniel (Anna), brother John's 3 remaining children John V., James K. and Mary and their 5 kids. He is also survived by his younger brother Anthony (Jane) with their son Michael (Sara) and their twin children Josh and Zack.

Joe was being treated for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. Donations in Memory of Joseph J. Mankus to:

1)Penn Medicine Abramson Cancer Center

https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/fund?program=MC&fund=00499

Or

2) Tidal health

https://www.tidalhealth.org/about-us/donate Richard A. Henson Cancer Center.