A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Larry Vuckovich

Larry Vuckovich was born in Kotor, Montenegro (Former Yugoslavia). He came to San Francisco in 1951 and was immediately exposed to a flourishing jazz scene. After receiving a classical training he became a frequent guest at music clubs like the Blackhawk where he met Vince Guaraldi. Mr. Vuckovich studied jazz piano as Guaraldi's only piano student. At the same time he enrolled in music studies at San Francisco State University, where John Handy was a major influence on the school's jazz program.

Mr. Vuckovich began his professional career in 1959 with tenor saxophonist Brew Moore, accompanying singers David Allyn and Irene Kral. Larry also performed with such instrumentalists like Handy and Monk Montgomery. During the mid sixties, he began a long-term collaboration with a vocalist and lyricist Jon Hendricks, and appeared at major festivals and clubs worldwide, including famous musical stage production Evolution of the Blues.

In the 70s Mr. Vuckovich was most active in Europe. There, he toured with Dexter Gordon and Philly Joe Jones and other famous musicians. Upon his return to San Francisco he became the house pianist at the well-known Keystone Korner until its closing in 1983. In the 1980s Vuckovich lived and performed in New York. There, he appeared at major jazz clubs, including Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Bradley's, Zinno's, and others. During this period of his career he received top reviews from the New York Times, the Village Voice and The New Yorker. The New York Times saw Larry as a truly unique musician who “brings with him an outlook and a collection of influences that set him apart from most pianists who are heard regularly in New York.”

Mr. Vuckovich now lives in Northern California, supported by his family of musicians. He often performs all over the San Francisco Bay Area and was named a “Jazz Ambassador of Good Will” for the newly renovated Lincoln Center premier performing arts center in July of 2008. In 2006 there was a Larry Vuckovich Day in San Francisco on December 8.

More information about Mr. Vuckovich, his remarkable new production and distinguished career is available at: http://larryvuckovich.com/


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People Directory

Ivan Ciric

Professor of neurosurgery at the University of Chicago Medical School

Ivan S. Ciric was born on December 15, 1933 in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Ciric grew up in Sremski Karlovci. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Belgrade and Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cologne, Germany. Dr. Ciric trained under Professor Wilhelm Tonnis at the University of Cologne from 1961 to 1963 and under Dr. Paul Bucy at Northwestern University Medical School from 1963 to 1967. That year he received additional training in stereotactic surgery under Dr. Claude Bertrand and in pituitary surgery under Dr. Jules Hardy at the Notre Dame Hospital in Montreal. Dr. Ciric is Professor of Neurosurgery at Northwestern University Medical School, Vice Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery and Chief of the Neurosurgery Service at the Evanston Hospital where he holds the Bennett - Tarkington Chair of Neurosurgery.

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Publishing

All Roads Lead to Jackson

Serbian American Contributions in Amador County, California, since the Gold Rush
Milina Jovanović offers a unique compilation of individual and family immigration stories that include enormous contributions to the development of California and significant community involvement. In this version of people’s history she chronicles how Serbian Americans have strengthened community, region, state, and country through the endeavors and struggles of 150 years. This book also focuses on women’s contributions that are too often overlooked. Ms. Jovanović’s study reveals that Jackson not only remains an original and symbolic home to Serbian Americans and Serbian Orthodox religion, but also an oasis where the Serbian community has preserved its positive reputation and social influence.

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