The title compound, [Mn(2)(C(18)H(18)N(2)O(2))(2)(C(7)H(5)O(2))(2)]·2H(2)O, was synthesized by the reaction between manganese(II) benzoate and the Schiff base generated in situ by the condensation of ethane-1,2-diamine and o-hydroxy-aceto-phen-one. The Jahn-Teller-distorted manganese(III) ions of the centrosymmetric dimer are connected through phen-oxy bridges. Hydrogen-bonding inter-actions between the uncoord-in-ated C=O of the benzoate and uncoordinated water mol-ecules link the dimers into a chain running parallel to the c axis.