Steve Kovacev liked John Wayne movies and other Westerns because of the common theme of their endings, his daughter said.

“Because the good guy always wins,” said Marianna Hurrell of Summit, N.J.

Stephen Walter Kovacev — the former assistant director of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, a folk ensemble that performs Eastern European music and dancing — died of kidney failure Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015, in St. Clair Hospital. He was 92.

Mr. Kovacev of Mt. Lebanon was one of the good guys in the way he treated his family, friends and students, Hurrell said.

“He was really a mentor, a teacher, and so many people have said to me, a second father to so many of his students over the years,” she said.

Mr. Kovacev was born June 10, 1922, in Kenosha, Wis., to Gregory and Mary Kovacev.

He started playing the tamburitza, a long-necked mandolin, at 11.

Mr. Kovacev received a scholarship offer from Duquesne to play with the Tamburitzans in 1940, but he instead joined the military, where he served as a radio operator on B-17 bombers during World War II.

In 1948, Mr. Kovacev accepted a scholarship to Duquesne, where he performed with the Tamburitzans. He played the bugarija, a string instrument, and was a dancer.

In 1950, Mr. Kovacev became the assistant director of the Tamburitzans, Hurrell said.

He earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1952 and a master's degree in education in the early 1960s, Hurrell said.

Mr. Kovacev filled several roles with the Tamburitzans, including teacher, business manager, tour manager and bus driver. He never missed a show, Hurrell said.

“He truly was everybody's dad on the road,” said Robert Vukic, director of the Tamburitzans Executive Council and Mr. Kovacev's former student. “We looked to him for guidance, for sanity, for humor. He was the source of all of that for us.”

Mr. Kovacev was a tenured professor at Duquesne, where he taught tamburitza classes. He retired in 1986.

Mr. Kovacev is survived by Hurrell and her sisters, Paula Murray of Sewickley, Robin Craver of Ft. Myers, Fla., and Jamie Flowers of Aurora, Ohio; seven grandchildren; and his ex-wife and caregiver, Mary Craver of Mt. Lebanon.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Anne Walsh.

Friends will be welcome from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday in Beinhauer Family Funeral Homes, 2828 Washington Road, Peters.

A celebration of his life and a Mass of Christian Burial will be said at 11 a.m. Monday at Church of the Epiphany, 1018 Centre Ave., Uptown.

Tory N. Parrish is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-5662 or tparrish@tribweb.com.

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