James Manning was originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Mannings came to Florida in 1961. He was a highly successful industrialist and fish farmer. He was a hobby aquarist and raised ‘walking catfish’ in the one acre pond behind his home which was located on fifteen acres. He and his wife Dorothy moved from Lighthouse Point to the unincorporated area next to Parkland at the end of 1969. He was the father of four children--three girls and a boy. He was appointed as the 5th mayor of Parkland, by the then serving commissioners, to fill the 1972 unexpired term of Mayor John Quigley. He did not run for election in November 1972 because he was not a resident of the city. (His portrait is a computer projection of what he looked like at that time.)