Scholarship Summary

THE SCHOLARSHIP:
The Montgomery County Farm Bureau and the Mangum Family established The Robert & Shirley Mangum Memorial Scholarship Fund in 2004 to honor Montgomery County business owners, Bob and Shirley Mangum for their dedicated service to the horticultural, floriculture, interior landscaping & greenhouse growing industry and to the Montgomery County, MD community. The scholarship, one award in the amount of two thousand dollars ($2000), is given to an undergraduate or graduate student who is a resident of the state of Maryland, and who is majoring in horticulture, floriculture, landscape design or a related field in any accredited two-year or four-year educational institution located within the United States. The Scholarship is designed to assist students who have demonstrated character, scholarship & talent and preference is given to those who are interested in pursuing an education and eventual career in the Maryland horticultural industry.  

BACKGROUND:
Mr. & Mrs. Mangum were involved with Montgomery County Farm Bureau for many years and Mr. Mangum served on the Board of Directors.  Mr. Mangum was a pioneer in the business of interior landscaping and ornamental horticulture. The couple's career began in the 1950’s when they purchased Bell Flowers, a family business in Silver Spring, Maryland.  The Mangums expanded their floral operations and in the late 1970s became one of the first in the country to successfully develop an interior landscape business, which grew to several hundred employees serving thousands of clients including shopping malls, office buildings and fine hotels in the Washington DC metropolitan area.  In the mid-1980s, the Mangums started Bell Nursery, a greenhouse and ornamental crop growing operation based in Burtonsville, MD. The Mangum’s businesses, Bell Flowers and Bell Nursery, which today continue under the stewardship of the Mangum family, are well-known for dedication to quality, innovative plant products and pioneering business practices that serve as a model for ornamental crop growers and other industry professionals around the country.