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	Death Notice No. 18 (To all Unit Administrations) Curia Generalizia Marianisti May 29, 2006 The Province of the United States of America, recommends to our fraternal prayers our dear brother, RALPH MRAVINTZ, who died in the service of the Blessed Virgin Mary on May 23, 2006 in Dayton, Ohio in the 81st year of his age and the 62nd year of his religious profession. Ralph Mravintz was born May 28, 1925, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of six children of Ralph and Leona (Koenig) Mravintz. He attended St. Mary's grade school and Most Holy Name of Jesus grade school, and he graduated from North Catholic High School, all in Pittsburgh. While at North Catholic, Ralph befriended Bro. Ed Drury and other Marianist brothers who encouraged him to pursue his vocation. On April 26, 1943, he entered the postulate at Mount St. John in Dayton, Ohio. Four months later, he transferred to the novitiate at Beacon, New York. He professed first vows on August 20, 1944, and final vows on August 24, 1947. Bro. Ralph earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1950 from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, and a master's degree in education (administration) in 1955 from the University of Pittsburgh. On a grant from the National Science Foundation, he studied chemistry over the course of three summers at Western Reserve University in Cleveland. From 1972 to 1974, he studied counseling at the University of Dayton. Bro. Ralph was a lifelong teacher whose teaching fields included chemistry, physics, mathematics and mechanical drawing. He began his teaching career in 1945 at St. John's Home in Brooklyn, New York, where he worked also as a counselor and social worker. From 1948 to 1949, he taught at Purcell High School in Cincinnati, and from 1950 to 1953 at Hamilton Catholic High School in Hamilton, Ohio. Bro. Ralph wrote of his years at Hamilton as "the happiest of my life. The eight brothers residing there worked and prayed constantly with our Blessed Mother as support and pillar." From 1953 to 1959, he taught and served as a counselor and athletic director at Cathedral Latin High School in Cleveland. After one year of teaching at Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, he returned to his alma mater, North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, where he taught from 1960 to 1964. During this time, he served also as head of the Science Honor Societies for the Pittsburgh Diocese. He then worked for one year as assistant principal, dean of discipline and teacher at Moeller High School in Cincinnati. In 1965, he began a nine-year tenure as director of admissions and assistant professor of education at the University of Dayton. In 1974, he moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught until 1984 at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. He taught again at North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh for a year and then spent the next three years teaching at Memphis Catholic High School in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1989, he returned to Florida, where he taught until 1992 at Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory in Hollywood. Bro. Ralph's dedication to teaching earned him several awards. In 1963, he was given the Outstanding Science Teachers Award by the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association. In 1964, the Future Teachers of America awarded him a citation for significant contributions to the teaching profession, and in 1965, the Engineering Society of Cincinnati granted him the Science Guidance Award. Throughout his many years of service, Bro. Ralph was a member of more than 20 education, counseling, admissions, and honors organizations, including the American Association for Higher Education, the Pennsylvania Catholic Roundtable of Science, and Phi Delta Kappa. In addition, he was listed in "Who's Who in American Colleges and University Administrations." "He was a true educator, a caring person, and he loved people," said Bro. Ray Martin, who lived in community with Bro. Ralph and spent summers with him in Florida. "He was an open and loving person. So many students were still in contact with him—even students he had 30 or 40 years ago. He made such an impression on his students. Once they met him, they fell in love with him. He was a loving educator." Bro. Ralph retired in 1993 from full-time teaching but remained active, working until 2004 as a tutor and substitute teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Bro. Ralph died suddenly of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he resided at the Indiana Avenue Marianist community in Dayton. May he rest in peace.
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