ESTEEMED Bunbury icon Dr Ern Manea has passed away overnight, leaving behind a legacy of 60 years of service in the South West.
Eighty-six-year-old Dr Manea was born in Albany on December 23, 1926 and came to Bunbury on May 18, 1952.
He completed his medical training at the University of WA and the University of Adelaide and completed an internship at the Royal Perth Hospital.
Dr Manea served as a GP in a large Bunbury practice from 1952 before striking out on his own in 2002, at age 76.
At a celebration of his life in November last year, Bunbury Mayor David Smith said that Dr Manea had been the city's longest-surviving Mayor and was at various times a patron or board member of over 300 community organisations.
He was the first chair of the South West Development Commission and served on the boards of St John of God Hospital, the TAB, GWN, Landcorp and many others.
He was also one of the first recipients of the State Local Government Medal and Orders of Australia.
"I do not believe there has been any one in my lifetime who has contributed more to Bunbury and the South West," Mayor Smith said.
On his retirement in late 2010, the Bunbury Mail spoke to Dr Manea about his early experiences in Bunbury.
“I drove up outside the practice in my car at 12.20pm and the doctor told me not to unpack and to go take an appendix out straight away at 1.10pm,” he said.
“At 3.30am on Monday morning I hadn’t slept since Friday afternoon – I thought I might go back to Perth but the ability to work with the nuns impressed me and I stayed.”
In his working life Dr Manea delivered 3581 babies, some of which have been the grandmother, mother and child in a family.
Dr Manea is survived by his wife of 60 years Snookie, sons Mark and Denis Manea, Sydney Jackson and five grandchildren.
A 300-page book on the life of Dr Manea, titled Manea: The Story of a Remarkable Life, was launched last year.
