Mark E. Schantz, 85, a longtime Iowa resident, died on September 14th, 2026, in Murrieta, California. The son of Gilbert and Annabel Cundy Schantz, Mark was born in Cedar Falls on February 3rd, 1941. He grew up in Wayland and then Wellsburg, where he graduated from Wellsburg High as valedictorian, earning a Nile Kinnick Scholarship to attend the University of Iowa. At Iowa, he played baseball and basketball, got elected student body president, and met his future wife, Sandra Kay Watson.
Mark attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship from 1963 to 1965. He and Sandy began their marriage of 61 years on August 14, 1965. They moved to New Haven so Mark could go to Yale Law School, and then to Montgomery, Alabama where he clerked for Judge Frank Johnson, known for rendering several landmark civil rights decisions. Judge Johnson was a major influence on Mark’s enduring commitment to social justice.
Mark began his distinguished professional career as a law professor at the University of Iowa. In 1979, he moved to Des Moines to become Solicitor General of Iowa, and in that capacity twice argued before the United States Supreme Court. He joined the Dickinson law firm as partner from 1983-1991, before returning to the University of Iowa in 1992 to serve as General Counsel. His time there included a brief stint as interim athletic director or “top jock,” as he liked to call it, a role well-suited to his lifelong love of sports and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Mark enjoyed golf, bridge, and games with the family. He never met a dog he didn’t like and was particularly partial to two poodles: Jessie and Maddy. Picture him in high spirits with a dog at his feet and a cap high on his big head and you remember him well. Mark Schantz was a widely admired and dearly loved man who will be greatly missed.
He is survived by his wife Sandy, his son Ned (Anne), his son Paul (Dena), his grandchildren Tyler and Malea, his sister Mary Schantz Hanson (Jay), his brother Robert (Nancy), and numerous nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
Donations in Mark’s memory may be sent to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America act.alz.org.
