Friends said Tom Manatt was a man who loved his family and the outdoors.

Manatt, 44, Ames, died Sunday while canoeing with his son on the Skunk River, Story County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Gary Foster said. The canoe went over a dam and threw them both of them into the water.

ISU football coach Dan McCarney lives next door to the Manatt family and said Tom was one of the nicest people he’d ever met.

“It’s a terrible tragedy, and our hearts go out to the Manatt family,” McCarney said. “I don’t know anyone who jammed more living into those 44 years — he really loved life.”

McCarney said Tom was very involved in the lives of his three children and had a good marriage with his wife, Linda. He said Tom ate lunch with her every day.

McCarney also coached Tom’s oldest son, Sean, when he played football for Iowa State in 2000.

Tom was the general manager of Manatt’s Inc., 2120 E. 13th St. Larry Ford, the company’s ready mix manager, grew up with Tom in Brooklyn, Iowa, before moving to Ames in the early ’90s.

“Tom was the type of person who always had a vision,” Ford said. “He always thought outside the box. He challenged the supervisors daily in a positive way to keep us on our toes, which made us better.”

He said Tom was always active in the outdoors and regularly went snowmobiling and hunted duck and pheasant. He said he also took his employees and customers skiing at Copper Mountain, where the company had a condominium.

Amanda Dillavou, freshman in animal ecology, said she grew up next door to the Manatts.

“He was like a second father to me,” she said. “I was best friends with his daughter, Sarah.”

Manatt and his wife, Linda, have three children: Rob, 17, Sarah, 19, and ISU alumnus Sean, who is in his 20s. Dillavou said the family is close.

“They’re a very loving family,” she said.

“They’re well known because of the Manatt company and the work they do all over town. And they’re very active at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.”

Dillavou said she knows Tom’s death will be difficult for the Manatt family, especially for Rob, who was in the accident Sunday and suffered only minor scrapes and cuts.

“He has a tough exterior, but he’s tenderhearted,” she said.

McCarney said he knows Tom will be missed and that Ames is a better community because of him.

The visitation is planned for Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 2210 Lincoln Way, in the Stevens Memorial Chapel and will be followed by a scripture service. The family will be there from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The funeral is planned for 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas.