February 9th, 2022 - Milan Grozić, an 80 year old man from Istria, donated over 400,000 kuna of his life savings to several health clinics in Croatia

Milan Grozić, an economist from Istria who has been retired for 15 years, made several sizable donations to multiple medical facilities, reports Glas Istre/Gordana Čalić Šverko.

He first donated 200,000 kuna to Istrian Health Centres. Half of the amount is intended for the purchase of an ultrasound machine for a GP clinic in Lupoglav, and the remaining 100,000 kuna for the Pazin clinic for palliative care and a medical-chemical laboratory.

A few days later, Grozić donated another 200,000 kuna, this time to Thalassotherapy Opatija, a specialised hospital for rehabilitation of cardiac patients, rheumatology and physical therapy.

‘Seeing that it’s constantly mentioned, especially in the media on a daily basis, that most people die from heart diseases, and it truly is so, with Opatija being close to citizens [of Istria] who use the services of Thalassotherapy as a cardiology clinic, I decided to make a donation to them as well’, said Grozić.

How come he decided to make such a sizable donation to health clinics in the first place?

‘Healthcare is a field important to society, same as the economy, education, science, social welfare, sports, culture… the state cannot function without them. I claim that healthcare is a top priority, as our minister says: "health isn’t everything, but without health, all is nothing". The healthcare system has difficulties even without corona, and in recent years since the coronavirus appeared, the financial situation has been even more difficult and there are a lot of problems. Finally, health is a top priority for all generations, from young to old, everyone uses health services, everyone needs them’, he explained.

Grozić was born in Vranja, a village in the foothills of Učka mountain. He finished high school in Pula and graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Rijeka; he first worked in the trading company Brodomaterijal in Rijeka for a year and a half, then went on to spend 38.5 years working for the Slovenian insurance company Sava Osiguranje, later renamed to Triglav Osiguranje. He held managerial positions for sixteen years, first as the head of the Rijeka branch, then as the president and member of the board. He says he was able to save a lot from his stable income. He built a house in Matulji near Rijeka, then sold it and restored an old home in Vranja where he currently lives.

‘After I retired, I spent a few more years in Matulji, and then came to a conclusion that life is better in the countryside because the coast is too crowded, there are always big traffic jams. I renovated and furnished a house in Vranja, remodelled a farm building into a holiday home, and built a ranch near the village. My brother lives in America, in Los Angeles, and my sister in Rabac. My other sister passed away recently in Pula, preceded by one brother. I have six nephews, they have twelve children in total, and they’re all doing fine, more or less. I also gifted something to those children, equally to everyone, and then I decided to donate part of my savings to a health institution’, he said in another interview for Glas Istre.

The benefactor only wants everyone to know that his savings came from hard work and work alone. He hasn’t inherited anything nor was he given any of the money he is now donating for a noble cause.

‘What does money mean to me. Nothing. I have everything I want, a car, a ranch, I can go to America whenever I want. They keep inviting me, but I’m afraid of flying, even though I travelled a lot by plane in my day’, says Grozić.

Accompanied by his golden retriever Fido, Grozić currently resides at his ranch in Vranje where he tends to an orchard and a vegetable garden. ‘I can't help but do something all the time’, he says.