Floyd H. Mann
Former Director of Public Safety
1959 - 1963
Col. Floyd H. Mann passed away at 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 12, 1996, following a brief illness. He was born Aug. 20, 1920, in Davidson, Tallapoosa County, Alabama. He was schooled in Davidson and Alexander City, Alabama. He joined the Army Air Corps, serving as a tail gunner on a B-17, where he flew 27 combat missions including the first daylight raid on Berlin. He received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross. He married the former Grace Doss of Ft. worth, Texas, on Nov. 25, 1944 After his military service he served as a security officer at Republic Steel in Gadsden. Afterwards he served as a police officer in Alexander City, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant.
From 1950 until 1958, he served as the chief of police of Opelika, where he assisted with the clean up of gambling and corruption that had spilled over from Phenix City. During this time he developed a close relationship with John Patterson who later became attorney general and governor.
From 1959 until 1963, he served as director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, appointed by Gov. John Patterson.
Following Patterson's administration in 1963, Mann was interviewed and considered for the position of police chief of Trenton, New Jersey, and Kansas City, Missouri.
He chose to return to a company near his home, where he was employed by West Point Pepperell in Lanett, Alabama, as director of security.
Following the untimely death of Gov. Lurleen Wallace in 1968, Lt. Gov. Albert Brewer was sworn in as governor. Col. Mann again was appointed as the director of Public Safety, where he served from 1968 until 1971.
Later he was employed by the University of Alabama, where he served as special assistant for security.
When University of Alabama president Dr. David Matthews was appointed as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Col. Mann went to Washington as his assistant. At the end of the Ford administration, he returned to the University of Alabama as vice president of external affairs. Col. Mann retired from the university in 1982.
Col. Mann returned to state service again in 1982, when he served one and a half years in the Fob James administration as chief administrator of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Among his many awards and honors, Col. Mann was named United Press International's man of the year in Alabama for 1961.
Col. Mann originated the Alabama Highway Patrol cadet program in 1959, which allowed young recruits age 18 to 22 to train for a future career as an Alabama highway patrol officer
In 1947, he attended the FBI's National Academy, a six-month intensive police training program in Virginia, and later served as the president of the Alabama chapter of the FBI National Academy Graduates.
In 1988, Col. Mann was one of the first inductees in the Alabama Peace Officers Hall of Fame.
Upon his untimely death, he was the executive director of the state Fraternal Order of Police, where he had served since 1988.
Col. Mann's pallbearer's were all sons of Alabama state troopers who were hired in the 1960s and 1970s in the cadet program which Mann originated.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Grace; two sons, Paul and Lane, both of Montgomery; three daughters, Deanna Daniel of Demopolis, Patsy Baker of Tuscaloosa, and Kay Grayson of Montgomery; and 10 grandchildren