top of page

Pioneer Award Bios

Barbara Krantz Mambu

& Ronald Mambu  - Class of 1967

​

Barbara 

 

          Barbara grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, attending elementary, junior high and high school in the School District of Philadelphia.

 

          At Frankford High School she participated in National Honor Society and worked on the year book. And she met Ron Mambu, who would become her husband.

​

          She received a full scholarship from Holy Family College in Philadelphia. After graduating she began her teaching career at Allen M. Stearne School on the east of Frankford, teaching first grade.

 

          Barbara and Ron married in 1972 and started their family six years later. They have a son, Robert, and a daughter, Teresa. 

 

          Robert works at a grocery store outside of Chicago. Teresa is married and has two children,  She works as a lawyer for the AFL-CIO of Wisconsin.  They live Milwaukee.

​

          In 1981 Ron came home with news that they were moving to Belgium for his job.  While in Belgium, she participated in the American Women’s Club of Antwerp, as well as serving as a substitute teacher for the International School of Antwerp.

 

          Barbara also volunteered in their children's classrooms, which led to her volunteering, once a week, at a local library.   She continued her library volunteer work when they returned to the United States.  

 

          Upon returning to the States and with the children settled in school full-time, Barbara decided to work on her post graduate degree in Library Science.   This would allow her to follow her two passions--literature and working with children.

​

          She begam at Drexel University, but finished her course work at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois after the family moved to Chicago.  She became a school librarian in Wheaton, Illinois and worked in an elementary school for 18 years.

 

          For several years, she chaired the librarians of the school district, working with the school district on curriculum, technology, copyright issues, as well as censorship issues.

 

          Barbara retired in 2009.  Since retiring, she has continued working with children by reading to first graders who have English as their second language.

 

          In addition, she has worked with the Dominican Literacy Center, a program that instructs non-English speaking women in English.

 

          She's active in her parish church, serving on the Parish Council and as a lector at Mass.  She also enjoys teaching adults, as they prepare to become Catholics.

 

          She enjoys reading, traveling, golfing (not well), and trips to the Jersey Shore.

 

 

Ron 

​

          Ron, a 1967 graduate of Frankford High School, graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame In 1971. 

 

          After graduation, he joined Arthur Andersen, an interna-

tional public accounting firm, and passed the CPA exam in 1974.

 

          In 1974, he joined a Philadelphia-based unit of FMC Corp, a multi business company, then headquartered in Chicago. 

 

          He interrupted his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School to accept an opportunity to relocate his family to Belgium, where he served as the European Controller until 1984.

 

          Ten years later, Ron returned to Philadelphia to head up the finance function for FMC’s (Food Machinery Corporation) Crop Protection business.

 

          In 1987, he was promoted to Assistant Corporate Controller of FMC Corp in Chicago, and in 1995 he became the VP and Corporate Controller of FMC, a $5 billion conglomerate.

 

          In 2008 he took JBT, (John Bean Technologies) a corporate spin off, public as an independent company, serving as Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer.

 

          JBT is a $1NYSE company supplying industrial products for the Food Processing and Aviation industries,

 

          Ron retired in 2014, and now pursues several volunteer and leisure activities.  He resides in Chicago with his family. He is also a veteran having served in the US Army as a Reservist.

​

          In 1972, Ron married his high school sweetheart, Barbara J Krantz, also a 1967 FHS alum.  They have two children and two grandchildren.

bottom of page