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//The notice of Milan's death was published on the 22nd of April in the Los Angeles Times, and a longer article appeared on April 29th, which can be downloaded [|here]. An article was also posted in the Chicago Tribune on the 25th, and can be seen// //here////. Here follows his full obituary.//

Milan Herzog
//Milan Herzog dies at 101; journalist, broadcaster, jurist, linguist and prolific educational film producer for Encyclopaedia Britannica//

In a long and rich life, Milan Herzog worked in a wide variety of fields as befits a well-educated European beginning life near the start of the 20th century. He was a translator, photographer, foreign correspondent, judge, broadcaster and filmmaker. He was also an accomplished linguist, fluent in Serbo-Croat, German, French and English. He became an American after fleeing the growing influence of fascism in his native Croatia in 1940. He assisted in setting up the Yugoslav government-in-exile during the war, then served as head of the Yugoslavia section of the U.S. Office of War Information (OFI) during WW II, and then as a VP at Encyclopedia Britannica Films for over 30 years, and much later still as an independent filmmaker.

Herzog, who died peacefully at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 21st, was 101 years old. His long life spanned the most tumultuous events of the last century. His family suffered destruction of their compound by retreating troops at the end of World War I. He witnessed Hitler’s invasion of Austria, the subjugation of the Czechs and the march of fascism through the Balkans. He had a keen ear and eye for newsworthy events, capturing stories for foreign publications with exclusive interviews with the likes of Leni Riefenstahl and Count Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law and the then Italian minister of foreign affairs, before escaping to the U.S. with his young family in 1940. He left behind an already-eminent career as a journalist and a jurist (including a stint working on developing a unified legal code for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia).

His story in the U.S. was an immigrant tale both familiar and apart from other immigrant stories: from a position of near-penury in New York, he became a movie theatre manager in Oakland, California, then loaded trucks in Los Angeles before being called by the U.S. State Department to assist with the creation of a Yugoslav government-in-exile. He transferred to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, predecessor of the CIA) and then to the newly set up Office of War Information (OWI) where he launched a series of broadcasts in Serbo-Croatian aimed at the public in Yugoslavia.

When the war ended in Europe, he began work for Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, first in New York, then in Chicago and Los Angeles. He rose to become Senior Vice President and also head of the West Coast for the company. He produced hundreds of educational titles on a broad range of humanities subjects including a popular foreign language instructional series, //Je parle Français//, and follow on series, //La Familia Fernandez// and //Emilio en Espana//. Many generations of children were exposed to his films in school. His Medieval films were among the first educational historical films to use costumed actors, and he pioneered the use of a children's orchestra and chorus in Christmas Rhapsody. He was a long-standing board member of the International Center of Film for Children and Young People (CIFEJ), and it was at one of the board meetings that he met fellow board member, Shanta Gidwani, whom he married in 1979.

After he retired from his long and successful career at Encyclopedia Britannica, he continued to work in Los Angeles now as an independent filmmaker with Shanta. They produced a highly regarded series on early childhood development as well as several series of historical and cultural films shot in France and Spain.

Herzog is survived by his devoted and loving wife of 31 years, Shanta, a daughter, Tanja Foster, and a son Sadja (both by his first wife, Roni, who died in 1978), three grandchildren, Torrey and Ryne Foster and Niko Herzog (a fourth grandson, Aaron, was killed in a car crash in 2008), three great grandchildren, Shaylee Ann and Addilyne Foster and, the youngest, Milan Herzog, who is exactly 100 years younger than his great-grandfather, and by a godson, Jamie McQuilkin. He also leaves behind a large group of friends, admirers and bons vivants who delighted in his vivid recollections of a life lived richly and fully.