Steve Maravetz

Steve Maravetz

Mount Vernon

Steve Maravetz, 73, painter of clouds, political cynic, adoring husband, doting bepa, gardener extraordinaire, wordsmith, Mystical Holy Man at Church of the PO Box 2000, and nonstop learner, died suddenly yet peacefully at home Dec. 5, 2025, of apparent cardiac arrest, doing something he loved: gaming on his one-day-old computer.

Steven John Maravetz was born Aug. 31, 1952, in Waterloo, Iowa, the oldest of Marvin and Margery Maravetz’s five children. Steve graduated in 1970 from Waterloo Columbus High School as president of his senior class. He earned a bachelor’s degree in TV and radio from the University of Northern Iowa and a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa.

His career in communications included several detours, including a day as a line worker at a packing plant pulling off pig toenails (which he later wrote about); a stint teaching communications and theater arts at UNI; music director at KUNI radio; and driving a semi for a transportation company he later joined as a public relations specialist. After 26 years in a variety of positions at the University of Iowa, he retired as a marketing and communications executive in 2017. In 2009 during a budget crunch, Steve voluntarily took a 20% pay cut. “Maybe I’m a schmuck,” he said in a newspaper article. “If I am, I’m good with that. This is something I felt I wanted to do.”

Steve’s life took a decided turn for the better when he met his wife, Dixie Collins, on a blind date and proposed three weeks later. They were married July 1, 1995, and honeymooned at Lake of the Ozarks where they bought their own lake home, a special space shared with family and friends. Their marriage brought him the joy of becoming a parent and grandfather as well as brother to Patty Ankrum, Dixie’s sister-from-another-mother, who died in February 2025.

Steve was renowned as a gourmet cook, willing to make everything from Turkish kunefe and Czech kolaches to his famous sweet-and-sour pork. He donned a personalized chef’s coat when he whipped up themed dinners for Dixie’s friends at her annual non-birthday parties.

Sporting his signature beard, a single pierced earring, a calf tattoo of R. Crumb’s Keep on Truckin’ cartoon, and clad in a multicolored dashiki, Steve was most relaxed when traveling with Dixie to Treasure Beach, Jamaica, where they spent one week six years in a row making lifelong friends. Their other travels included England, Wales, Mexico, and Scotland, and they dreamed of making a visit to his ancestral homeland, Czech Republic.

Steve’s creativity seemed boundless. At the first Mount Vernon home he shared with Dixie, Steve planted 145 varieties of roses encircled by a white picket fence. In retirement he began painting with acrylics, which he enjoyed so much that he gave up golf. He served as president of the Mount Vernon Area Arts Council from 2013-2021, helping to create a vibrant arts community that earned a designation as an Iowa Cultural & Entertainment District.

Steve’s circle of friends was enormous, and he loved his family: wife, Dixie Collins; daughter, Heather (Namaste) Reid; son, Aaron Collins; three grandchildren, Owen Hamm, Devon Hamm, and Violet Reid; siblings David (Kathy) Maravetz, Mary Jo Maravetz, Laurie Maravetz, and William (Dianne) Maravetz; brother- and sister-in-law Scott and Jane Thomas; and many nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life will be held at noon on Saturday, April 25, 2026, at The General Store, 12612 Stone City Road, Anamosa, Iowa. A catered lunch will be served. Cremation arrangements were handled by Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services.

Memorial gifts may be directed to Patty Ankrum’s Prairie Legacy at www.inhf.org/patty-ankrum or Mount Vernon Area Arts Council at www.mvaac.org/make-a-donation.

Please share your support and memories with Steve’s family on his Tribute Wall at www.stewartbaxter.com under Obituaries.