Longtime Washington, D.C., jeweler Brian Mann (right) with his wife Jessie Mann, an artist who custom-paints porcelain Limoges Boxes, at a 2016 Jewelers of America member event. Mann, the longtime co-owner of David Mann Jewelers, died June 21 at age 70.
Washington, D.C.—Brian Parker Mann, the jeweler who co-owned and operated the store inside the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., died suddenly in June, just six months after retiring from the business he loved.
He was 70.
Mann was born May 2, 1954, in Washington, D.C., to the late Natalie Kaplan and David Mann. He had two older brothers, Conrad Mann and Evan Mann.
Their father, David, started the business that eventually became David Mann Jewelers in 1946 as a watch store and repair shop, later adding jewelry.
Brian’s wife of 48 years, Jessie Mann, told National Jeweler on Thursday that Brian started helping out around the store when he was a kid.
After David died suddenly in the mid-1960s, a gentleman was brought in to help the family matriarch, Natalie, run the business until Conrad graduated from college and took over.
Brian, younger than Conrad by six years, followed him into the business several years later.
“He loved everything [about the jewelry business],” Jessie said of her husband. “He loved helping people with their repairs, he did a lot of engraving in the store.
“He just loved the interactions with people the most.”
She added that he always said his customers, who were members of the U.S. military, were the “best customers in the world.”
In a 2011 article in Forbes, Brian recounted what surely was one of the most unforgettable days of his career—Sept. 11, 2001.
He described what it was like to be in the Pentagon on 9/11 and how doing business in the building changed afterward, sharing that Valentine’s Day became a “mini-Christmas” for the store.
He reiterated the importance of the love-focused holiday in a 2019 National Jeweler article about the impact of the month-long government shutdown on D.C.-area jewelers.
“We have always had a strong Valentine’s Day business; we always call it our little Christmas rush. Let’s hope for one again this year,” he said in an email to National Jeweler .
David Mann Jewelers was a longtime member of Jewelers of America.
Brian was on JA’s board of directors from 2010-2016 and on the board of JA’s political action committee, known as JAPAC, from 2012 to 2023.
He also served as president of Maryland-Delaware-Washington, D.C. Jewelers Association from 1996 to 1998.
“Brian was one of the most thoughtful people whom I have had the pleasure to work with,” JA Director of Public Relations and Events Amanda Gizzi said.
“He was a champion for our industry and for Jewelers of America. He was always the first to reach out to wish you well for special occasions or holidays.”
Brian Mann with the family’s rescue cat, Sweetpea. The longtime Washington, D.C. jeweler loved cats, as well as collecting watches and watching movies.
On a personal level, Brian enjoyed collecting watches and watching classic movies, as well as watching the modern independent films his daughter, movie producer Lauren Mann, makes.
He also loved cats.
“He was a wonderful husband, a wonderful father,” Jessie said. “[He was] thoughtful, kind, and honest—a very honest person. Everybody who met him liked him.”
Brian is survived by his wife, Jessie; his daughter, Lauren; his son, Alexander Parker Mann and his wife Anne; and his brothers, Conrad and his wife Sondra, and Evan and his wife Claire.
Services were held in late June in Rockville, Maryland.
