In Memoriam

Charles Simic
1938-2023
January 10, 2023

The President of NASSS and the Editor-in-Chief of Serbian Studies lead the Executive and Members of the Society and the Editorial Board of the journal in sharing deep sadness at the passing, on January 9, 2023, of Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, whose immeasurable contribution to Serbian-American culture, scholarship and American and Serbian Humanities leaves a lasting legacy. We are united in our loss of an intellectual giant, whose aesthetic forms ushered in a new poetic era in world literature. Our deepest condolences to the Simic family.

In memoriam: Charles (Dušan) Simić
Written by: Tomislav Longinović
Belgrade, March 27, 2023

It took me a very long time to sit down and reconcile to the fact that a beloved mentor and friend is no more. I last saw Charlie in the spring of 2016, when I spent an extended period of time on the East Coast, teaching as a Visiting Professor in Harvard’s Slavic department. It was one of those delightful meetings of immigrants over a meal cooked with love and devotion, with no good wine missing from the picture. The great poet was in high spirits, since he was finally able to host us in his lovely New Hampshire abode – we have been trying for a decade to finally visit him in his element, surrounded by trees and books, in a space exuding affection and care for all living creatures and the world they inhabit. Just a few days prior to this wonderful afternoon in the woods, I had the opportunity to personally meet Per Wästberg, Chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee for Literature. During our lively conversation about Per’s work on behalf of the PEN center to help prosecuted writers in the former Yugoslavia, I floated the idea of Charlie’s nomination for the Nobel. Per encouraged me to go ahead and do it, which I did, without letting Charlie know. I told him about the idea over our wonderful meal and he was delighted, in his own puckish way, cracking jokes about the politics of awards.  Well, Bob Dylan got the Nobel the year after and I am left forever confused by the fact that Charlie had passed and he didn’t get this recognition that he certainly deserved.

Charles Simic was born on May 9, 1938, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia as Dušan Simić, where he had a harrowing childhood during World War II. In 1954 he emigrated from Yugoslavia with his mother and brother to join his father in the United States. They lived in and around Chicago until 1958.  Simic’s first poems were published in 1959, when he was twenty-one years old. In 1961 he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and in 1966 he earned his bachelor’s degree from New York University while working at night to cover the costs of tuition. His first full-length collection of poems, What the Grass Says, was published the following year. Since then he has published more than sixty books in the United States and abroad, twenty titles of his own poetry among them, including The Lunatic (Ecco, 2015); New and Selected Poems: 1962-2012 (Harcourt, 2013); Master of Disguises (2010); That Little Something (2008); My Noiseless Entourage (2005); Selected Poems: 1963-2003 (Faber and Faber, 2004), for which he received the 2005 International Griffin Poetry Prize; The Voice at 3:00 AM: Selected Late and New Poems (2003); Night Picnic (2001); Jackstraws (1999), which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times; and The Book of Gods and Devils (1990).

His other books of poetry include Walking the Black Cat (1996), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; A Wedding in Hell (1994); Hotel Insomnia (1992); The World Doesn’t End: Prose Poems (1989), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990; Selected Poems: 1963-1983 (1990); and Unending Blues (1986).  In his essay “Poetry and Experience," Simic wrote: “At least since Emerson and Whitman, there’s a cult of experience in American poetry. Our poets, when one comes right down to it, are always saying: This is what happened to me. This is what I saw and felt. Truth, they never get tired of reiterating, is not something that already exists in the world, but something that needs to be rediscovered almost daily.”

Simic has also published numerous translations of French, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Slovenian poetry and is the author of several books of essays, including Orphan Factory. He has edited several anthologies, including an edition of The Best American Poetry in 1992.  About his work, a reviewer for the Harvard Review said, “There are few poets writing in America today who share his lavish appetite for the bizarre, his inexhaustible repertoire of indelible characters and gestures ... Simic is perhaps our most disquieting muse.”

Simic was appointed the fifteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in 2007. About the appointment, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said, “The range of Charles Simic’s imagination is evident in his stunning and unusual imagery. He handles language with the skill of a master craftsman, yet his poems are easily accessible, often meditative and surprising. He has given us a rich body of highly organized poetry with shades of darkness and flashes of ironic humor.”

“I am especially touched and honored to be selected because I am an immigrant boy who didn’t speak English until I was fifteen," responded Simic after being named Poet Laureate.

Simic was chosen to receive the Academy Fellowship in 1998 and elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2000. He has received numerous awards, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1995.

Most recently, he was the recipient of the 2011 Frost Medal, presented annually for “lifetime achievement in poetry.” In 2007, he received the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets. Charles Simic was a Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, where he has taught since 1973.  He died on January 9, 2023 from complications caused by dementia.                                                      

In closing this saddening account of an exceptional life, I would like to end with an anecdote that shows Charlie’s sense of humor and his indomitable prankster spirit. In 1993, I went to my University of Wisconsin-Madison mailbox and unsuspectingly opened a regular manila envelope with a book inside it.  To my shock, inside was a book Rat u Bosni: Kako je počelo by Radovan Karadžić, one of the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs in the war that was tearing apart Yugoslavia at the time. On the second page, a dedication, penned in perfect Serbian Cyrillic, said: “To my esteemed colleague and fellow writer, Tomislav Longinović, in the name of truth about the struggle of our people, Radovan Karadžić.” I was in complete shock until I went back and looked at the envelope again, where I saw that the book had been mailed from New Hampshire. That was a kind of boyish lark Charlie was so fond of and I am sure he would like us to remember him that way.

David Albahari
1948 — 2023

The President and Executive of NASSS, together with the Editorial Board of Serbian Studies, note with sadness the passing of the Serbian writer, David Albahari (15 March 1948 - 30 July 2023). Albahari was the author of Mamac (1996), which was awarded the NIN Prize. He was the founding editor of the literary journal Pismo and was a translator of Anglo-American literature. Albahari lived in Canada from 1994-2012, when he returned to Belgrade. With sincere condolences to his family. 

Aleksandar Sasha Petrov
1938 – 2021

Aleksandar Sasha Petrov was a writer, scholar, literary historian, university professor, anthologist, editor, a man who left a unique legacy in Serbian, Yugoslav and Russian Studies, literary theory, and criticism. He was a generous man. He was open to new ideas but also to the gifts of tradition.  He was a pioneer in introducing Russian Formalism into the Yugoslav literary scholarship.  Sasha was a supreme literary interpreter of the works of Serbian greats, Miloš Crnjanski, Ivo Andrić and Vasko Popa, a meticulous researcher of the Serbian literary tradition.

As a young scholar in the Institute for Literature and Arts in Belgrade, he founded  a research project dedicated to the study of periodicals,  a new field that would many years later become a valued new segment of literary studies.

Sasha was born in Serbia, but his parents were so-called White Russians who escaped from Russia, torn by the October Revolution and Civil war that followed. They found refuge and a new home in Belgrade and the Russian church there was spiritual home for Sasha.

Many of his scholarly books as well as poetry books were published in Russian. Sasha used to say he was a 100% Serbian and a 100% Russian. He was in fact a cosmopolitan scholar.

During the seventies and eighties, Petrov was instrumental in the activities of literary organizations. As President of the Association of Serbian Writers and Acting President of the Association of Yugoslav Writers, he was instrumental in organized demands for political liberation and democratization.

After being a visiting professor in Japan and at several US universities in the early eighties and nineties, Sasha and his wife Krinka settled in Pittsburgh, where he taught at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1993, he became Serbian section editor of the American Srbobran. The nineties were a crucial time for the fate of the Serbian people and the involvement of Serbian Americans in their support. The promotion of Serbian American culture and identity as well the renewal of ties between American Serbs and their historical homeland  became a new field in Sasha's work.

Petrov published over 40 books . Many were translated into numerous foreign languages and many attracted scholarly and literary awards.

Sasha Petrov spent the last decade of his life battling cancer while continuing to work on his books. His last wish was to return to Belgrade. He passed away in his home on November 19, 2021, surrounded by his closest family, with a smile on his face. He rests in the historic Russian cemetary in Belgrade. A reliable friend. A man of faith, hope and generosity. May he live in our memory.

Radmila Gorup,
Emerita
Columbia University

Ivan Leo Gorup
1932-2021

Ivan Leo Gorup, a long-standing friend and benefactor of NASSS, passed away peacefully at home in Great Neck, NY on August 7, 2021. He was born on July 13, 1932 in Fiume, Italy and completed Liceo Scientifico in Padova. In 1951, he emigrated to Montreal, Canada, where he attained the rank of Sub-lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy, and earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from McGill University in 1956. He began his 38-year career at Air Liquide in Montreal, specializing in industrial gases, and he ultimately retired in 1994 as President and Chief Operating Officer of Liquid Air Engineering Company. Ivan is survived by his wife of 58 years, Radmila (Rajka) Gorup, Professor Emerita at Columbia University, one of the founders of NASSS, and a yet active member of the Editorial Board for Serbian Studies. Ivan will be remembered as a rare gentleman who offered us the best of friendship, kindness, and generosity.   

George Vid Tomasevich
1927 - 2009

George Vid Tomasevich, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology (Buffalo State College) died on December 3, 2009, at his Berkeley, California home. He was 82. Professor Tomasevich came to the US after the WWII. He received his B.A. in sociology from Roosevelt University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. From 1968 to 1995, when he retired, George Tomasevich was one of the founding members of Anthropology Department there (with June Collins), as well as one of the founding members of NASSS. Much loved by his student and colleagues, he is survived by his sister Nada and brother Vladimir.

Dimitrije Djordjevic
1922 - 2009

Dimitrije Djordjevic was a beloved husband, father, step-father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend. Born February 17th, 1922, died March 5th, 2009 after a valiant struggle with Alzheimer's disease. The definitive gentleman and scholar, he was a man of true grace, charm and wit, we "shall not look upon his like again."

Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) Dimitrije grew up in a "cozy, protected childhood and adolescence in pre-World War II days." As the scion of a distinguished 4th generation Belgradian family his future was very bright but then came the War and the juggernaut of the Nazi invasion of Eastern Europe. Dimitrije, known as "Mita" to all who knew and loved him, quickly joined the underground resistance group with his younger brother Mihailo. Together with many others they became devoted followers of General Dragoljub "Draza" Mihailovic and first fought against the forces of fascism and later communism. Civil War swept through the country after the defeat of the Nazis. Mita survived imprisonment by the Nazis in the notorious Mauthausen prison in Austria only to be captured and imprisoned again in more than one concentration camp in Yugoslavia. Eventually pardoned in 1947 Mita returned to his family in Belgrade and began his scholarly career.

Due to his resistance to the regime of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, Mita had great difficulty finding a job and gaining entry to the University of Belgrade. After a long struggle he succeeded and obtained his PhD in History in 1962. His academic career began with his trips to Greece, Germany and eventually the United States on lecture tours. Ultimately he was offered positions at several prestigious universities and elected to join the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1970. At the History Department he organized the Graduate Program of Balkan Studies and taught modern Yugoslav, Blakan and European history. He was tremendously proud of his 19 PhD candidates as well as 9 MA's. He called them all his "Balkan Family". At his retirement in 1991 his grateful students assembled a "Festschrift" (a collection of essays) in his honor titled, "Scholar, Patriot, Mentor".

Dimitrije was the author of 22 books in four languages and countless articles. He always said he suffered from "graphomania". His most touching and emotional work was his autobiography "Scars and Memory, Four Lives in One Lifetime" published in 1997 which describes his carefree youth in Belgrade, the descent of the black mantle of Fascism and the advent of communism that swept away all he knew and cared about in his beloved country. After his retirement emeritus from UCSB as "a leading international scholar of Balkan History" per Chancellor Henry T. Yang, he and his wife Nan continued with their extensive travels and enjoyed time with their combined families of children, grandchildren and one great-grandchild. In later years there were many long walks on the beaches of his beloved Santa Barbara with their adored dog, "Buba".

Mita's dear brother Mihailo "Misha" Djordjevic preceded him in death in 1991. He is survived by his loving wife, Nan, his daughter Jelena Markovic (Rade), his grandson Vladimir Markovic (Natasha), his granddaughter Danijela Markovic and great-granddaughter Tara Markovic all of Belgrade, Serbia as well as his step-children F. Taylor Sarguis (Claudine), Tod F. Sarguis, and Nina S. Walker (Matthew) all of California. Services are pending in Belgrade, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Friends may donate in his honor to the charity of their choice if desired.

Alex N. Dragnich
1912-2009

At 97, a retired professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, died August 10,2009 at the Collington Episcopal retirement community in Bowie, MD. A specialist in Slavic studies, and an authority on the multinational state known as Yugoslavia from its origins in 1918 to its demise in 2003, Prof. Dragnich was a prolific author. He published his last article, on relations between Serbia and Montenegro, just a few months before he died.

Prof. Dragnich joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1950, retiring in 1978 after having served as chairman of the political science department from 1964-69. Reflecting his multiple elections to Vanderbilt’s Faculty Council and University Senate, he received the Thomas Jefferson Award in 1970 for “distinguished service to Vanderbilt through extraordinary contributions as a member of the faculty in the councils and government of the university.” He also served as President of the Southern Political Science Association, and Vice-President of the American Political Science Association, during the 1960s. He held the Chester Nimitz Chair at the Naval War College in Newport, RI from 1959-60, and afterwards remained a consultant to the Department of Defense.

He was a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution in Stanford, California from 1978-81. He was a Distinguished Lecturer at Washington & Lee University (Lexington, VA) in 1982. Following a brief retirement in Spokane, WA, he settled in Charlottesville, VA where he continued scholarly research and writing. In 1988, he and his late wife became charter residents of the Collington Episcopal retirement community in Bowie, MD. From there, he continued to author books, journal articles, Op-Eds, and a steady stream of letters to the editor. Among his eleven books, Prof. Dragnich is probably best known as the original author of the textbook, Major European Governments (1961), which added more authors and is still in print, and used worldwide, forty-eight years and nine editions later.

Prof. Dragnich became an expert on Yugoslavia during World War II while serving in Washington as a foreign affairs analyst for the Department of Justice and the Office of Strategic Services. Following the war’s end in 1945, he taught at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio until joining the US Foreign Service in 1947. From then until he returned to academia in 1950, he was Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. That experience spawned his first book, a scathing critique of the new communist regime, Tito’s Promised Land, in 1954.

He continued to write on Yugoslavia and Serbia for the rest of his life, including a short monograph written in 1992 for general readership, Serbs and Croats: The Struggle in Yugoslavia, that went through multiple printings. A frequent panelist at Washington policy gatherings, Prof. Dragnich made guest appearances on the then MacNeil/Leher News Hour as the Balkans erupted into conflict. Prof. Dragnich was critical of US foreign policy in the region, believing that the Dayton Accords of 1995 would not have been necessary had the US played a more constructive role in the early stages of Yugolavia's disintegration. The Serbian Government awarded him the “Yugoslav Star, First Class” in 2002 in recognition of his efforts to foster a positive image of Yugoslavia and Serbia in the United States.

The son of Serbian immigrants from Montenegro, Prof. Dragnich was born in 1912 on his parents’ homestead outside Republic, Washington. When he was nine, the Ferry County truant officer found their log cabin in the mountains and informed his father that education was compulsory in America. He and two siblings entered a rural, one-room schoolhouse not knowing a word of English, the first of their kin to ever sit in a classroom. Although his education was frequently interrupted by Depression-era poverty, including an entire year spent cutting logs and building roads during college, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1938, and completed work on his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley in 1942 (wartime service delayed his Ph.D. until 1945).

A keen gardener whose belief in homegrown vegetables reflected his farming roots, Prof. Dragnich left the growing of flowers to his wife, Adele Jonas Dragnich, who died in 2000. Survivors include a daughter, Alix Lombardo of New York City, and a son, George Dragnich of Geneva, Switzerland, and three grandchildren, Marisa, Paul, and Alexander. A son, Paul Dragnich, predeceased him.

Ruzica Popovitch-Krekic
1940-2011

It is with heartfelt sadness that we acknowledge the loss of our dear friend and colleague Ruzica Popovitch-Krekic, who passed away on June 9, 2011 in Los Angeles after a long and valiant struggle with cancer. With a background in Russian literature and library science (B.A. George Washington University; M.A. Ohio University; M.A. Catholic University of America), Ruzica enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a Senior Reference Librarian for the Library of Congress. She was a dear friend to all, and she epitomized the very spirit of NASSS-indeed the heart and energy of our society. Her dedication was unparalleled. Driven by her belief in and love of the organization, she worked tirelessly on our behalf: vivaciously, efficiently, and with incredible enthusiasm. Even in her last months she found the strength and focus to produce the newsletter, so full of praise for the achievements of others and optimism for our future endeavors: the next ASEEES convention, the panels, and exciting location-her adopted hometown of Washington, D.C. We join her husband Barisa and sister Ljubica in their grief.

The Ruzica Popovitch-Krekic Special Fund has been established in her memory by her sister Ljubica D. Popovich. The purpose of this Special Fund is to assist with the scholarly needs of members, associates, and participants in the publications and conferences of the North American Society for Serbian Studies. 

The Ružica Popovitch-Krekić Special Fund

Established in memory of Ružica Popovitch-Krekić by her sister Ljubica D. Popovich, the purpose of this Special Fund is to assist with the scholarly needs of members, associates, and participants in the publications and conferences of the North American Society for Serbian Studies.

The Special Fund will be administered by the Executive Board of the North American Society for Serbian Studies (NASSS) to which proposals should be directed. To receive funding the application must be approved by three members of the Board. Support may be allocated for a broad variety of purposes, including but not limited to, textual translation, illustration costs, other special publication or conference presentation needs.

Tax exempt contributions to the Ružica Popovitch-Krekić Special Fund are invited and may be directed to the Treasurer of the North American Society for Serbian Studies: 

Sonja Kotlica
1301 Delaware Avenue SW, #N112
Washington, D.C., 20024

Gojko Vuckovic
1952-2013

The longtime member and supporter of NASSS, Dr. Gojko Vuckovic (61) passed away on October 11, 2013 in Los Angeles, after a brief battle with gastric cancer. Dr. Vuckovic received his B.A. from the University of Belgrade. After arriving to the United States, he received a M.S.M. from the Arthur D. Little School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1990) and a M.P.A. from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1991). He also received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (USC), School of Public Administration, Los Angeles, California (1996) with a concentration in the areas of comparative politics and administration.

Upon arriving to the Unites States, Dr. Vuckovic worked on scholarship related to the peace, stabilization and development of Southeast Europe, with particular emphasis on the integration of countries of the former Yugoslavia into the international community and more recently on public education. He was an Affiliated Scholar with the Center for Multiethnic and Transnational Studies (1994-1998), researching the role of domestic and international forces in ethnic conflict management, with particular attention paid to the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union. He also served as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Studies, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (1998-2001), conducting research on governance, capacity building and civil society in transition. For the past twelve years, (2001-2013), Dr. Vuckovic worked as a Senior Research Analyst with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on researching and evaluating various educational projects, including Proposition 227, a state ballot initiative requiring that all public school children in California be taught in English. Among other things, Dr. Vuckovic also served as a Director of the Leadership Project of the LAUSD Leadership Academy.

Dr. Vuckovic was honored with the Morris Abrams Award in International Relations and Peace in 1994. He was a fellow at the Institute for the Study of World Politics and United Nations Industrial Development Organization and served on the editorial board of the Journal of East-West Business. He extensively published and presented work at conferences, seminars and other public events. In addition to his book "Ethnic Cleavages and Conflict: The Sources of National Cohesion and Disintegration - The Case of Yugoslavia" (published by Ashgate, England in 1997). Dr. Vuckovic has also authored numerous scholarly papers and articles, conference and policy papers on topics of ethnic conflict management, governance, world affairs, leadership and education and extensively published, including in the magazines World Affairs and East European Quarterly.

Dr. Vuckovic was a member of the Center for European Studies of Harvard University (CES), the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS), the American Education Research Association (AERA) and the California Education Research Association (CERA).

Dr. Vuckovic is survived by his wife Ivana, sons Ivan and Milosh, sister in law, Gordana and father in law Vojin Ognjanovic, all of Los Angeles, as well as mother Zorka, brother Dr. Vladimir and the Vuckovic family of Belgrade, Serbia. Dr. Vuckovic was buried at the Serbian Cemetery in Los Angeles.

The Dr. Gojko Vuckovic Memorial Fund was established per his wishes to assist with the scholarly needs of the NASSS. Tax exempt contributions to the Dr. Gojko Vuckovic Memorial Fund are invited may be directed to: The Dr. Gojko Vuckovic Memorial Fund, c/o Serbian Studies and mailed to Ms. Sonja Kotlica, Treasurer of the NASSS, 1301 Delaware Avenue SW #N112, Washington, D.C., 20024. The purpose of this Memorial Fund is to assist with the scholarly needs of members, associates, and participants in the publications and conferences of the North American Society for Serbian Studies.

The Special Fund will be administered by the Executive Board of the North American Society for Serbian Studies (NASSS) to which proposals should be directed. To receive funding the application must be approved by three members of the Board. Support may be allocated for a broad variety of purposes, including but not limited to, publication or conference presentation needs.

Miroslav Svircevic
1971-2014

Dr. Miroslav Svircevic of the Institute for Balkan Studies (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts), member of NASSS and contributor to Serbian Studies passed away on August 10, 2014 at the age of 43. He will be dearly missed.