Samuel Edward Manning1922 – 1987 Distinguished portrait painter Samuel Edward Manning was a native of Sacramento, born on March 12, 1922. He spent most of his childhood in San Francisco. At the outbreak of World War II, Manning enrolled in the Merchant Marine Academy. Following graduation, he was commissioned an ensign in the Navy, serving throughout the war as a gunnery officer. At the close of the war, Manning studied at the Art Students League in New York City and married his first wife, Cynthia West. The two shared a studio in Carnegie Hall until the couple and their young daughter Donna moved to Carmel in 1949. He was quickly juried into the Carmel Art Association where he exhibited until his passing in 1987. The artist spent the early 1950s in travels abroad, painting, studying, and visiting art museums in England, France, and Italy. While especially noted for his portraiture, Manning executed a number of fine, sensitive paintings of Paris street scenes, illustrative of his versatility as an artist. The popularity of his oil portraits kept him busy fulfilling important commissions, including little Una Jeffers, granddaughter of the late poet Robinson Jeffers; Bing Crosby; and several other members of the Crosby family including Bing’s wife Katherine Grandstaff Crosby. Alabama Senator John J. Sparkman brought his daughter to Carmel to sit for Manning. Other portrait clients included actress Alice Faye; San Francisco socialite Dolly Fritz McMasters and her mother; and General and Mrs. Jens A. Doe’s young daughter Camilla. While living on Dolores Street, corner of Thirteenth Avenue, Manning died after a long period of failing health. He was survived by his second wife Suzanne Miller, a bride of only six months, and his daughter Donna.