Dr. Steven V. Mann

Dr. Steven "Steve" Verne Mann of Columbia, South Carolina passed away peacefully on October 26, 2025.
Steve was born in Red Oak, Iowa on May 22, 1959. He graduated from Truman High School in Independence, MO, earned bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from the University of Missouri, and a doctorate in finance from the University of Nebraska.
Steve spent his entire teaching career at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, beginning in August 1987. He was promoted to tenured professor in 2001, and served as department chair from 2009 to 2015. After 31 years, Steve retired from teaching in 2019, as a Professor Emeritus.
Steve's academic research interests included investments, particularly fixed-income securities and derivatives. He published over seventy articles in finance journals and books. His books included Floating-Rate Securities, Introduction to Fixed-Income Analytics, The Global Money Markets, and Measuring and Controlling Interest Rate and Credit Risk. He also co-edited multiple editions of The Handbook of Fixed-Income Securities.
His favorite part of being a professor was the time he spent with his students, and he won over twenty awards for excellence in teaching including the two highest awards given by the University of South Carolina – The Michael J. Mungo Award for Excellence in Teaching (1993) and the Amoco Outstanding Teacher Award (1995). In May 1999, he received The Moore School of Business Master Teacher Award.
During his career, Steve also worked as a consultant to clients that include some of the largest investment/commercial banks in the world, as well as a number of Fortune 500 companies. He conducted over 170 fixed-income training programs for financial institutions throughout the United States and Europe. He also served as an expert witness on court cases involving fixed-income related matters, primarily repurchase agreements, securities lending, and structured products.
Steve was a lifelong learner whose curiosity was never satisfied. It wasn't a birthday without books. His favorites included classic literature, historical biographies, anything Hunter S. Thompson, and books about finance. In his retirement, he began writing fiction, and he always joked about writing a series of finance-related crime novels. Steve often shared his love of reading and was excited to hear about other books those around him were enjoying. Many joked that his home was actually just a library.
When he wasn't reading, Steve enjoyed fishing, cooking, headbanging to classic rock music, or watching sports. There wasn't a game he wouldn't enjoy, once even getting invested in a National Corn Hole Championship. You could hear him cheering on the Missouri Tigers, the South Carolina Gamecocks, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas City Royals, and the New York Yankees. Some of his other favorite teams included the teams his daughters played on and he coached. Steve was a very dedicated third-base coach to many t-ball and softball teams, and he enjoyed attending numerous soccer games, volleyball matches, basketball tournaments, and swim meets over the years. He found boxing later in life and took great pride in his one-two punch. Much like his hero Muhammad Ali, he (allegedly) floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee.
Steve loved to travel. He considered New York City his home away from home, and when he wasn't working, he loved spending time reconnecting with former students or showing the city to his daughters. He aspired to visit all seven continents, and only was missing Antarctica and South America. He documented many of his adventures through photography and proudly displayed his incredible photos in his home.
Steve is survived by his beloved daughters, Meredith and Morgan Mann. He is also survived by the mother of his daughters, Mary Mittelstaedt Mann; parents Patricia and Robert Mann; brother Paul (Monica) Mann; father-in-law Robert Mittelstaedt; sister-in-law Patrice Noel; nieces and nephews Sierra (Hunter) Smith, Wyatt Mann, and Marlow and Matthew Mittelstaedt. Steve was preceded in death by his mother-in law Venita Mittelstaedt and his brother-in-law John Mittelstaedt.
A memorial service for Dr. Mann will take place on Monday, November 17 at 3:00pm at the Rutledge Chapel on the University of South Carolina Horseshoe. A reception will immediately follow at the home of the family.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made online to The Michael J. Fox Foundation (https://tribute.michaeljfox.org/tribute-page.php?id=3380&np=true) or to the Steven V. Mann Finance Scholarship at the Darla Moore School of Business (https://donate.sc.edu/direct-your-gift?fund=17245dbd-7ef3-4e9c-9dc5-5fde298eaf73&appeal=a0de9461-be6b-4af3-808f-7afe2b35a27e). Checks to the scholarship can be made payable to the USC Business Partnership Foundation and mailed to:
Darla Moore School of Business
USC Business Partnership Foundation
1014 Greene Street
Columbia, SC 29208
The family also asks individuals to consider registering as an organ donor through the Brain Donor Project (https://braindonorproject.org/), Donate Life America (https://donatelife.net/), or Sharing Hope SC (https://sharinghopesc.org/), as this was something Steve aspired to do.
Care entrusted to Shives Funeral Home (https://www.shivesfuneralhome.com/).