Steve left home during his junior year of high school to attend Culver Military Academy and graduated in 1971. Michigan State University recruited him to swim, but turning more fully to academics, he transferred to Albion College and graduated in 1974. He began medical school in 1975 and received his degree from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1979.

After medical school, Steve became an emergency room physician in Traverse City, Michigan. He loved caring for his community while also finding time for the outdoor adventures that were always an important part of his life—hiking, biking, windsurfing, swimming, and telemark skiing.

Curiosity, compassion, exploration, and adventure were touchstones throughout Steve’s life. His desire to experience the world and help others took him far beyond Northern Michigan. He joined a medical research team in the Yukon, served as head of a medical clinic in Nepal, and rode his bicycle the length of the Alaska-Canada Highway, among many other adventures. Although Steve traveled the world, his Michigan family and friends remained his heart’s home.

In his mid-30s, Steve left emergency medicine and moved to Ohio with his first wife, Elizabeth Grekela, and infant son, Charlie, to begin a psychiatry residency at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic. There he discovered his true professional calling: caring for people with substance use disorders. He completed his residency and an addiction psychiatry fellowship at Yale University.

For the next several decades, Steve devoted himself to the compassionate, ethical, and non- stigmatizing treatment of people with addiction, particularly those with opioid use disorders. He was equally passionate about ensuring that physicians and medical students received meaningful training in addiction medicine, regardless of their specialty.

Steve served in numerous leadership and teaching roles, including Chair of the Coalition on Physician Education in Substance Use Disorders (COPE), Director of the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship, Clinical Expert for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Provider Clinical Support System, and Co-Chair of the development of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) guidelines for office-based opioid treatment. He also served as President 1953 ~ 2026

of the American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine (AOAAM) and Chair of the North Carolina Psychiatric Association (NCPA) Addiction Psychiatry Committee. Among his many honors was the North Carolina Governor’s Institute Dr. Frederick B. Glaser Award.

In the last decade of his life, Steve’s work brought him to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he met and married the love of his life, Laurie Reed. Steve and Laurie were co-adventurers whose care for others, love of bicycling and yen to explore the world were perfectly matched. The blending of the two families—Steve and Charlie, Laurie and her children and grandchildren-- was a joyous and abiding gift to all.

Steve Wyatt was a remarkable human being—a husband, father, brother, grandfather, physician, colleague, friend, and adventurer. His life was defined by curiosity, courage, compassion, and a deep commitment to others. He passed away while on an adventure, doing what he loved— cycling, swimming, and exploring new places with people he loved. His loss will be keenly felt by all who knew him, but his kindness, warm smile, and generous spirit will remain with us. As will the legacy of his commitment to addiction medicine and to the many people whose lives he touched.

Steve is survived by his wife, Laurie Reed; his son, Charlie Wyatt; his beloved sisters, Pam Bradshaw (Dave), Wendy Wyatt, and Deb Fellows (Neal). He also leaves nephews Ben, Peter and Austin Fellows, their spouses and children, Kennedy and Franny; niece Olivia Fellows; Laurie’s children, Lydia Lemmond Ban (Derek), Ben Lemmond; grandchildren Penelope and Everett; and too many cherished friends and extended family members to name.

A memorial service will be held December 5, 2026, 1pm at the Overlook Barn at the Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28214.

A celebration of Steve will be held in Leelanau County next summer.

In Steve’s memory, donations may be made to: COPE (Coalition on Physician Education in Substance Use Disorders) copenow.org/donate Leelanau Conservancy, Leland, MI https://leelanauconservancy.org/donate/ 105 N. 1st Street Leland, MI 49654 Blue Ridge Public Radio, Ashville, NC https://www.bpr.org/ Or to any charity of your choice that brings you joy.