Iowa Board of Regents member Milt Dakovich dies

IOWA CITY — Milt Dakovich, an Iowa State University graduate and longtime member of Iowa’s Board of Regents, died this week, board President Michael Richards announced Friday.

Dakovich, who lived in Waterloo, was 67.

Although Richards didn’t share details of Dakovich’s passing, he praised his fellow regent as a “wonderful man.”

“He was really one of the most respected members of our board,” Richards said during the Friday installation ceremony in Iowa City for new University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson, who Dakovich helped hire.

“I believe I speak for him today, too,” Richards said.

Former Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Dakovich to the board on June 3, 2013, and reappointed March 1, 2019, by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

His term was set to expire April 30, 2025. He was the longest serving current regent.

Dakovich grew up in Des Moines and earned bachelor of science degrees from Iowa State in both civil engineering in 1976 and in construction engineering in 1977. He spent his career in the construction industry and was president of Aspro Inc., an asphalt paving company in Waterloo.

That knowledge made him an apt fit to lead the regents’ property and facilities committee — a role he’s held for years, considering campus proposals for new buildings, facility naming and renamings, budget and construction plans, property leases and purchases.

He served as a past president of both the Associated General Contractors of Iowa and the Asphalt Paving Association of Iowa, and was a life director of the Associated General Contractors of America, according to the Board of Regents.

He and his wife, Kim, have five children, all of whom attended or are attending one of Iowa’s public universities, according to his bio from the board.

Upon appointment to the regents in 2013, Dakovich told the Iowa State College of Engineering that his brother and sister also were ISU grads and involved in construction.

“I wanted to build,” Dakovich said in answering a question about why he pursued degrees in both civil and construction engineering. “Construction engineering seemed to suit that goal best, but in 1972 it was a fairly new curriculum and not yet accredited. I started in civil engineering. When I was a junior, the construction engineering program earned accreditation so I started taking all my electives in that.”

Dakovich shared that, while in college, he acted as “Cy” — the ISU mascot — for a time and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

“I very much enjoyed my time as Cy,” he said at the time, according to the engineering college report.

When asked about his more recent work with Aspro, Dakovich said his company builds or resurfaces “city streets, county roads, state highways and airport runways and taxiways.”

“We also do commercial parking lot work and bike trails,” he told the college. “Every project has its own rewards and challenges, and I enjoy all of it.”

His advice — given lessons he learned in college — was to get involved often and early “if you know in school what you want your career path to be.”

As a regent, Dakovich said he wanted to make sure Iowa continued to provide “high-quality, affordable education to Iowa’s students; that we continue to enhance our research efforts and facilitate the transfer of that knowledge to Iowa business to stimulate Iowa’s economy; and that we provide any services that we can to enhance the quality of life for Iowans.”