Work was life for Vujica Yevjevich, a hydrologist who became internationally known for his work and writings.
Yevjevich, who died in a Littleton hospital March 26 at age 92, “still had 50 more ideas about where research should go,” said longtime friend Paul Nikitovich of Cherry Hills Village. “He had a great imagination – always full of ideas.”
“He was always studying, always working,” said his wife, Mirjana Yevjevich.
Yugoslavian-born Yevjevich worked long after he retired at age 65 from the hydrology department in civil engineering at Colorado State University. He became director of the International School of Water Resources at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. At the time of his death, he was finishing a seven-volume autobiography.
Yevjevich “had a passion for work,” said Rada Brooks of San Francisco, one of his three daughters. “He was a take-charge kind of person and appreciated hard work.”
In his 67-year career, Yevjevich worked in 60 countries helping people plan, design and sometimes build dams and other hydrology projects. He spoke seven languages, wrote 23 books and 200 articles about water resources.
In his years of teaching, 80 of his students got master’s degrees and 50 got Ph.Ds. His students knew him as “Dr. Y.”
His awards included the Ven Te Chow Hydraulic Engineering Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers and Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Lund, Sweden. A museum named for him in his hometown will store many of his professional papers. Others are at CSU and at the University of Belgrade.
Yevjevich was born Oct. 1, 1913, in Priboj, Yugoslavia, and earned his degrees in Belgrade and France.
During World War II he was twice imprisoned – in Germany and Italy. When he was freed from the Italian camp, he joined the anti-Nazi underground and helped hide prisoners who had fled from the Germans. His languages and the fact that he assumed the name Giovanni Bossera aided his disguise and helped him produce identity papers for others fleeing.
After the war he met Mirjana Puharic, a lawyer, and they married in 1948. After they came to the U.S., he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, D.C., and then came to CSU.
For the past several years he and his wife lived in Highlands Ranch.
In addition to his wife and Brooks, he is survived by two other daughters, Vera Maytum of Orinda, Calif., and Branka McLaughlin of Littleton; and four grandchildren.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
