Olga W. Durovic

It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to Olga W. Durovic. She left this world on April 16, 2023, passing away in the early morning after over 101 years of a beautiful life. She is survived by her daughter Milly, her grandson Max, and her great-granddaughter Milana Olga. Olga was born to Admiral Victor Wickerhauser and Ljubca in Zemun, Yugoslavia in 1921 and was soon joined by twin brothers, Teodor and Milan only 10 months later. Olga shared her love with multiple generations across continents, and her strength and fortitude kept the Durovic family together throughout not just World War 2, but throughout the subsequent breakup of her home country of Yugoslavia over the next 4 decades. In 1941, she met and married the love of her life Marko Durovic. While on their honeymoon, Hitler bombed their home city of Belgrade and they became prisoners of war, never to return. After gaining amnesty through the Vatican, they fled to Spain and then Buenos Argentina, where their son Stevan was born. While in Argentina, Marko and his brother Dr. Stevan Durovic, helped develop an experimental cancer treatment that they thought could change the world. So Olga flew to Chicago for the first time in 1949 while pregnant with her daughter, Militza. Gaining citizenship through Milly’s birth, Marko soon joined the family in Chicago where Olga lived until 2012. Beginning in 1951, Olga and her husband Marko founded and ran the Krebiozen Research Foundation for the next 27 years. Over that course of time, Olga helped to produce and distribute life-changing cancer medicine to thousands of patients. Despite the FDAs claims of inefficacy and the subsequent Senate trials, Marko and his brother were acquitted of crimes before he passed away in 1976. In 1977, she joined her good friend Felix Stungevicious who was CEO of Communica International a Chicago-based company that provided translating and interpreting services. Olga and Felix were inseparable best friends and spent the next 30 years traversing Chicagoland restaurants and museums while running a successful business in downtown Chicago. With over a century of life and experience, Olga was like a walking encyclopedia. In fact, one of her main clients at Communica International was the World Book encyclopedia, which she helped translate into some of the five languages she spoke. Most days, Olga would take the train and the bus into the city, until they finally closed the business in 2008. Olga would spend the next four years caring for her friend Felix until he died in 2012. In 2012, Olga moved to San Diego to live with Milly. The two of them grew even closer, getting to live together for the first time in 50 years. Olga continued to share her love and wisdom with all those around her. Eventually, she and Milly moved to Miami Beach in time for her 100th birthday and the birth of her great-granddaughter Milana Olga Durovic. Olga was an avid reader, and even at 101 years old was reading one book per week. She enjoyed classical music, always wore pearls and heels, and hated fish that was overcooked. Her beauty was only outshined by her grace.

Olga W. Durovic

October 29, 1921 - April 16, 2023

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