+Very Rev. Dragoljub C. Malich

+Very. REV. DRAGOLJUB C. MALICH

April 26, 1936 - April 19, 2021
 

The Very Rev. Stavrophor Dragoljub C. Malich, who died peacefully and with a slight smile on his face on April 19, 2021, was born on April 26, 1936 in Rekavice, Banja Luka, in what is today the Republika Srpska section of Bosnia-Hercegovina and was then the Royal Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to the late Cedomir Malic, Chetnik Resistance Fighter against the Nazi occupiers and Communist revolutionaries during WW II, and Radojka (nee Balaban) Malic.
 

He attended the St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade, graduating in 1960. Yugoslavia was still under a dictatorship that did not allow emigration at that time, so he escaped with a friend to Italy, where an Amnesty organization provided refuge and sponsored him to emigrate to the United States, where he sought freedom. He lived for a time at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in NYC, and studied at Columbia University, Milwaukee Institute of Technology and Penn State University.
 

He made his way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his fiancé who was still overseas had family that had been in the United State since 1901. He connected with them and they sponsored her to emigrate while a Wisconsin Congressman sponsored a private citizenship bill on his behalf.
 

In 1962 he married the former Marina Goronja, was ordained a Deacon at the St. Sava Cathedral in Milwaukee, and ordained a Priest at the St. Sava Church in Gary, Indiana.
 

He served as Assistant Pastor at the Milwaukee Cathedral before becoming the Parish Priest of the St. George Church in Farrell, PA, the founding priest of the younger St. Luke Church in Washington, DC that is within the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the Parish Priest of the St. Nicholas Church in Wilmerding. In 1971, Father Malich, in synergy with the Parish Board and generous organizations and members, was the driving force to build the new St. Nicholas Church in Monroeville, PA designed by famous Pittsburgh Architect Taso Katselas. He has served as Episcopal Deputy of the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Co-chairman of the Refugee Relief Committee of the Eastern American Diocese in partnership with former President of Pittsburgh City Counsel Robert Rade Stone (the committee was awarded the Order of St. Sava by the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate for charity and exemplary merit), Spiritual Advisor of the Federation of Circles of Serbian Sisters of the Eastern Diocese, and Administrator of the National Clergy Pension Fund. He has served on the National and Diocesan Councils of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

He leaves behind his spouse Marina (nee Goronja), daughter Kristina (Nik) Gacesa, Alex (Zora) Malich, and Nicholas (Jennifer) Malich, nine grandchildren: Jelena (Sean) Riberdy, Marko Gacesa; Mateja, Marija, Anna and Katerina Malich; and Philip, Luke and Sophia Malich; and five great grandchildren: Tejadora, Emilia and Tomas Riberdy and Gabriel and Anna Gacesa; as well as sisters Desimirka (the late Tomo) Radonjic of Ljubljana, Slovenia and Milena (the late Dragan) Crnogorac of Prijedor, Republika Srpska, an Aunt Cvijeta (the late Cedo) Damjanovic of Dubica, Republika Srpska, and many nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, kumovi and friends throughout the world. He was preceded in death by sister Draginja (the late Momcilo) Jankovic of Banja Luka, Drasko (the late Bogoljupka) Malic of Rekavice and the late Pantelija (Vukica) Malic of Rekavice.
 

Viewing and visitation will be on Friday, April 23, 2021, 2 to 6 PM, St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church, 2110 Haymaker Road, Monroeville, PA 15146.

The Funeral Service will be officiated by His Grace, Bishop Irinej Dobrijevic, of the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, St. Nicholas Parish Priest Fr. Stefan Djoric, and visiting clergy, at the St. Nicholas Church, Monroeville, PA, on Friday, April 23, 2021, 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Fellow clergy will be pallbearers.

The hearse will stop by the old St. Nicholas Church in Wilmerding on its way from the funeral home to the funeral at the new Church in Monroeville. Services will be simultaneously held overseas in Father Malich’s boyhood Church in Rekavice. Divine Liturgy followed by Memorial Pomen will be served by Fr. Djoric and V. Rev. George Veselinovic Dean of the Serbian Orthodox Pittsburgh Deanery, at the St. Nicholas Church, Monroeville, PA, on Lazarus Saturday, April 24, 2021, 10:00 AM. Dacha (Funeral Repast Meal) will be served immediately afterwards at the St. Nicholas Church Hall, Monroeville, PA, noon, catered by Emil's Lounge of Rankin, PA.

Pre-sanctified Divine Liturgy will be celebrated by His Grace, Bishop Longin of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of New Gracanica and Midwestern America, Very Rev. Nedeljko Lunich, and local clergy, on Holy Monday, April 26, 2021, at 9:00 AM, at the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Libertyville, Illinois, followed by Pomen in the Church and burial in the Monastery Cemetery.  Dacha to follow at the Gracanica Monastery Hall in Grayslake, Illinois
Father will be buried on his 85th birthday.

To honor the wishes of the deceased and out of respect for his grieving family, none of the services in Pennsylvania or Illinois will be live streamed.

All arrangements are being made by the Alfieri Funeral Home in Wilmerding, PA, and in lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to the St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church, 2110 Haymaker Road, Monroeville, PA 15146.

Please visit, www.alfierifuneralhome.com for online condolences. 

Memory Eternal. Вјечнаја Памјат. Част и хвала. Слава му.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of +Very Rev. Dragoljub C. Malich, please visit our floral store.