Christian "John" Mann Jr., 83, of Urbana, passed away at 1:40 P.M. on Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at Presence Covenant Medical Center in Urbana surrounded by family members.

John was born on October 16, 1931 in Junction City, Kansas to parents Christian J. and Vaughnie Jean (Waynicke) Mann, they preceded him in death. On February 11, 1961 John married Diane K. Messmann in Kewanee, Wisconsin. She passed away on February 19, 2007. Also preceding him in death was his brother, Robert Mann.

He is survived by his two sisters, Christine (Colonel Robert) Zeidner of California, Mary Ann Womack of Kansas City, KS. He is also survived by his four children, Christian John Mann III of Kansas City, MO, Anna (Kevin Gross) Bourne of Ridgewood, NJ, Vaughn Mann of Champaign, Katrina Mann of Urbana, and his six grandchildren, Kevin Bourne of Chicago, IL, Emily Bourne of Minneapolis, MN, Nicholas Bourne of Champaign, IL, Ian Gross of Ridgewood, NJ, Trevor Tucker and McKenna Tucker of Urbana.

John attended the University of Kansas for his undergrad and later the University of Wisconsin where he earned his PhD in Mathematical Geology. He taught Geology at the University of Illinois for nearly forty years until his retirement in 1999. He was also a veteran of the United States Army Engineering Corp and was stationed in Guam during the Korean War.

He enjoyed politics, jazz and playing bridge. John had been writing a multi-volume book about simple wisdom. John and Diane shared great interest in Native Americans' history and their rich culture. But most of all he loved his grandchildren.

There will be no services at this time. Condolences may be offered at renner-wikoffchapel.com and donations may be made to Haskell Indian Nations University http://www.haskellfoundation.org/home/.