As Slobodna Dalmacija writes on the 31st of August, 2019, Ivica Tolić, a former HDZ MEP and the war commander of the 3rd Imotski Battalion of the 4th Guards Brigade, has passed away. He tragically died far too prematurely, just one day before his 51st birthday.
He was born on September the 1st, 1968 and retired from political life after a term in the European Parliament due to a serious disease, more specifically esophageal cancer.
Back when he was very young, at the age of 22, he joined the Croatian Army (HV), and with the 4th Guards Brigade he fought the Serbs and the JNA on the battlefields in the hinterland of Zadar, Šibenik and Drniš, and down on the southern front.
At the end of the Homeland War, he completed his military time as Chief of Staff, after which he began to build a successful career in the Croatian Navy (HRM), where he commanded the staff and the fleet.
Ivica Tolić was an educated man, having graduated from the Command and Staff School and the War School in the Republic of Croatia, earned his international diploma from NATO’s College of Defense in Rome, Italy, and then his master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics in Split. He was a graduate engineer in mechanical engineering and also held a master’s degree in economics.
After retiring in 2008, he enlisted in the Veterans Association of the 4th Guards Brigade, and soon became Vice President of the Association of Veterans of the Croatian Guards Brigades. For his merits earned during the Homeland War, he was awarded the highest military honours.
He was a candidate for HDZ in the 2014 European Parliament elections and entered the European Parliament after Andrej Plenković and Davor Ivo Stier returned to Croatia and became members of the Croatian Government.
Ivica Tolić leaves behind his wife and two sons.
A commemoration marking Ivica Tolić’s life will be held in Split on Tuesday, September the 3rd. His burial will take place at 17:00 on the same day in Donji Vinjani.
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