William Howard “Bill” Mangum Jr. died at his home in Harpswell, Maine, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. Born Sept. 23, 1944, in Wake Forest, North Carolina, Bill was the son of William Howard Mangum and Elsie Wiggins Mangum. He was predeceased by his parents and his younger siblings, Marilyn Mangum Searle and Walter Travis Mangum.
Surviving family members are his wife of 58 years, Paige (Bishop) Mangum; two sons, William Gordon Mangum II (Kyle Helles) and Thomas Oliver Case Mangum (Stephanie); and two grandsons, John Everett and Charles Henry.
Bill earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Wake Forest University in 1966. After graduation, Bill entered the Naval Aviator Training Program in Pensacola, Florida. His first permanent duty station was the Brunswick Naval Air Station, where he joined VP-21.
After his military service, Bill returned to Brunswick to start a tax and financial consulting business, which later became Mangum and Associates. For 40 years, Bill helped his diverse clientele achieve their financial goals. Many clients became lifelong friends.
One of his first clients, George Soule, introduced Bill to upland bird hunting and fly fishing. The Maine sporting life became a lifelong passion. Bill’s camp in northern Maine was an annual destination for October adventures in the woods.
After moving to Harpswell in 1977, Bill joined a local effort in 2005 to buy and preserve the Holbrook Wharf, a mixed-use working waterfront property in Cundy’s Harbor. He was a founding member of the Holbrook Community Foundation, serving as its first president from 2006-2010.
Bill enjoyed summers on the ocean, fishing and cruising the Maine coast. On these trips aboard the family’s boat, SELAH, he loved learning about the people he met along the way, their way of life and their stories.
A lifelong learner, Bill spent his last years restoring antique cedar-strip, canvas-covered canoes. He learned all he could from how-to books and persistent visits to a legendary canoe builder. Bill produced a noteworthy collection of restored Old Town, E.M. White, and Carlton canoes.
Bill leaves instructions, to all who loved him, in these words from Henry Scott Holland: “Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word it always was. Let it be spoken without effect. Without the trace of a shadow on it.”
A service for Bill will take place at 10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, at First Parish Church in Brunswick, followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bill’s memory can be made to the Holbrook Community Foundation, 984 Cundy’s Harbor Road, Harpswell, ME 04079. Memories and condolences can be shared at brackettfh.com.
