With great sadness, the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) mourns the passing of Ohio State legend Pandel Savic, at the age of 92. UMD expresses its deepest condolences to the entire family.

“Mr. Savic lived a truly remarkable life, which speaks volumes to the power of the American Dream – we, Macedonian-Americans, look up to him as a role model,” said UMD President Metodija A. Koloski. “Given that this month is Immigrant Heritage Month, we recognize all the contributions Mr. Savic leaves on American society which will be remembered for generations to come.”

Pandel was born in Macedonia and came to the United States at age nine. He fought for his adopted and beloved country as a United States Marine in the South Pacific during World War II before attending The Ohio State University. While at OSU, Pandel quarterbacked the Buckeyes to their first Rose Bowl victory in 1950. He is one of the founding members of Muirfield Village Golf Club and served as general chairman of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide for more than 30 years, helping the Memorial become one of the premier stops on the PGA TOUR. Pandel was inducted into the Ohio State Hall of Fame in 2009.

The book of his memoirs, A Wonderful Run at Life: The Stories of Pandel Savic, written by his son-in-law Donald Holmes Lewis, can be found HERE.

On November 6, 2016, at the invitation of Savic’s family, UMD helped arrange a special event at the home of Pandel Savic with Macedonian Ambassador to the United States, Vasko Naumovski and then-Macedonian Consul General to Detroit, Elena Zarkovska, attended by several UMD members including then-Generation M Global Chairman, Filip Jotevski, then-Generation M Chairman of United States Operations, Mario Hristovski, and UMD Advisory Council Members Vera Stavroff and Don Sazdanoff.