Niko Popovic

Rođen:25.06.1941. (Dubrovnik, Hrvatska)

Preminuo:08.12.2022. (Keyport, New Jersey, Sjedinjene Američke Države)

Dob: 81

Captain of Ocean-Going Cargo Ships, of Keyport, 81 Captain Niko Popovic, 81, of Keyport, NJ, slipped away in the early hours of December 8 having courageously battled COPD and its complications for more than a decade. Niko died at home, his wife Vickie by his side.

Born in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on June 25, 1941, to Stjevan and Cvijeta (Stjepovic) Popovic, Niko had the sea in his blood almost from birth. He grew up sailing and swimming and exploring the rocky caverns of the Adriatic and having just a drop of homemade red wine in his waterglass when he traveled inland to his grandparents' farm. A favorite toy was a yellow truck, missing a wheel from the start, a gift from the United States government in the years following World War II. Niko received his First Communion in shorts and a shirt fashioned from flour sacks by an aunt.

Niko did well in local schools and, like many of his generation, took up soccer and tennis, helping maintain the fields and clay courts on which he played. In 1959, he headed to the University of Dubrovnik to pursue studies that would lead to his becoming a captain of ocean-going cargo ships for more than three decades. As recently as 2021, Niko and Vickie were back in Dubrovnik to toast the surviving members of Niko's nautical graduating class.

Niko's last command was the Abdelmoumen, owned by COTRAMA out of Casablanca, Morocco. Having met his wife Vickie in Croatia in 1988 when she and her family visited what was then Yugoslavia in search of their roots, Niko came to the United States in the early 1990s and became a U.S. citizen in 2003. He and Vickie married in Cape May, NJ, in 1997.

Niko's stories of his seafaring experiences are legendary and have been shared at dinner tables (most frequently his own), bars (most especially that at the Keyport Yacht Club, where he was a valued member), and aboard sailing vessels large and small around the world. He was a raconteur and all who knew him have a favorite story. Niko's way with food matched his storytelling.

With the simplest of ingredients – and without measuring cups or spoons – he whipped up mouth-watering meals. He knew the exact second when the salmon was perfection and he gloried in cooking "under the bell" in his living room fireplace. A favorite annual event until COPD sapped his strength was the celebration of his saint's day (St. Nicholas – December 6) for which he did almost all the preparation and cooking for the 60 or more friends who descended on his home to feast and fete.

Niko was, quite simply, the last of a breed. Niko is survived by his companion of 30 years and wife of 25, Vickie Snoy of Keyport; his sons Pepo (Sele) and Renko (Maja); his grandchildren Romana, Ivana, Rebecca, Eugen, Ramona and Karla; and his brother Ivica (Blazenka), all of Dubrovnik. He is also survived by his sisters-in-law Becky Snoy-Laible (David Deem) of Machesney Park, IL; Sara Snoy (Don Scare) of Glenview, IL; and Francie Dougherty of Charleston, SC; and nieces Leslie Liable of Chicago and Julia Snoy (Zach Reiziss, fiance) of Pensacola, FL.

FOTO: Private

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