Charles Mangel

Charles Mangel, a lifelong reporter and editor, died Wednesday, February 18. He co-authored “Something’s Wrong with My Child,” (1973) the first book about learning disabilities written for the public. The New York Times, in a daily review of the book, described it as “important… a primer for parents.” In a subsequent news story, the Times termed it “one of the most authoritative and informative of the new books… The aspect of the book that is most appealing is the compassion… for the learning-disabled child.”

Written with Dr. Milton Brutten and Dr. Sylvia Richardson, the book won four national awards, including that of the American Medical Writers Society. The Association for Children with Learning Disabilities termed the book “the [one] we’ve been waiting for.”

Mr. Mangel was also a senior editor of Look magazine until it ended publication in 1971. “Something’s Wrong with My Child" was an expansion of an article he wrote in Look, the first on the subject in a national publication. It drew the most reader responses in the magazine’s history.

Two articles by him in Look led to political action. “The tragedy and hope of retarded children” in 1967 led to changes in Massachusetts institutions for the intellectually disabled and the appointment by that state’s governor of coauthor Dr. Burton Blatt as assistant commissioner and director of the division of mental retardation. A Look article titled, “How to Make a Criminal out of a Child,” led to major changes in the juvenile penal code in Illinois, the focus of the story.

Prior to Look, Mr. Mangel contributed to The New York Times and was an editor for Good Housekeeping magazine. Mr. Mangel was also co-author of six other non-fiction books, including “The Right to Die,” a study of euthanasia. An interview of Mr. Mangel in the Times in 1975 following publication of “The Right to Die” described him as a “caring” investigator of social problems.

He served as an adjunct professor of writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ. He also lectured frequently, primarily on issues concerning children.

Mr. Mangel’s wife, the former Roberta Katzenstein, died in 1981.

He is survived by his partner, June Reines and four children and seven grandchildren; Howard Mangel, his wife Cindy and their children, Robert, his fiancée Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, Alyssa, and Jonathan; Debbie Salkin, her husband, Arne and their daughter, Rebecca; Beth Nelson, her husband Matthew, and their son Daniel; Allen Mangel, his wife Felicia, and their children, Joshua and Hayley.

Services will be 12:30pm today at Bernheim Apter Kreitzman in Livingston. We request that in lieu of flowers or other gifts, that you please consider a donation to one of these groups: www.curepsp.org, the organization providing support and research funding for people with PSP; or the NY Times Neediest Fund (nytneediestcases.com) or the Brain Injury Unit of St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center, Lawrenceville, NJ.