Ilija Monte Radlovic

Ilija "Elijah" Monte Radlovic (July 5, 1914 – August 26, 2000) was a British Army officer and an author.

Personal background
Radlovic was born in Montenegro. After studying law at the University of Belgrade and at Cambridge University, he embarked on a career in journalism, working for the Reuters News Agency, the Daily Mail, and on the staff of the Balkan Herald in Yugoslavia.

Military career
In a daring and internationally reported event, Radlovic organized a group of fellow fugitives and fled Yugoslavia on board the Hrabri-class submarine Nebojša during the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. After a treacherous journey, endangered by German bombing (at one point his family believed him dead), he arrived in Egypt, where he enlisted in the British Army.

Serving with the famous "Desert Rats", commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, Radlovic participated in many battles (such as Tobruk, El Alamein and Monte Cassino) throughout North Africa and Italy. He rose to the rank of major in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He was recognized as the first Allied officer to enter Bologna and Padua in Italy and was highly decorated by the British government and awarded the Order of the British Empire by King George VI for his efforts behind enemy lines.

Literary activities
When the war ended, Radlovic resumed his career as a correspondent for Reuters in Belgrade, but after being denounced as a Western agent, he was reassigned to Rome.

While on assignment with the London office of Reuters he worked with the British journalist Derek Jameson. In his autobiography, Touched by Angels, Jameson writes that, "Foremost among this group was a Yugoslav war hero name Monte Radlovic, six-foot tall and good-looking with it." He said Radlovic, after the North African and Italian campaigns, "was among troops who linked up with Tito's forces on the liberation of his homeland" of Yugoslavia. Later Radlovic's positions against Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito and communism became well-known at the Reuters office. After Reuters he then founded the influential publication European Affairs where he worked closely with Bertrand Russell and George Bernard Shaw.

He came to the U.S. in 1950, where he busied himself with literary activities. Radlovic started a magazine, The Diplomat and authored two books, Tito’s Republic (eventually translated into seven languages), and Etiquette and Protocol. Furthermore, he worked as Director of an anti-communist organization, the British Institute for Political Research. He also developed a great friendship with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Family
In the late 1950s, Radlovic went back to Yugoslavia to recommence legal studies at the University of Belgrade, where, in 1959, he met another student, Milena Djukic, who became his wife. Before the birth of his first son, Radlovic was again compelled to flee Yugoslavia after Communist officials jailed him for his anti-communist activities.

He returned to the U.S., living briefly in Washington D.C., then moving to Covina, California where he was soon joined by his wife and son. By the early 1960s, he had built a thriving real estate business, and decided to move to Claremont, California. It was there that a daughter and second son were born.

Business ventures
In the years that followed, Radlovic became involved in a number of flourishing business ventures. He founded Pomona Realty, which grew to encompass 16 offices, and United Business Brokers, both located in the Inland Empire of Southern California, which offered seminars for entrepreneurs on how to develop successful businesses. Observers estimated that United Business Brokers played in a role in the creation of more than 150 businesses in the Inland Empire. For years he was the owner of the well-known restaurant Magic Towers, located on Foothill Boulevard in Pomona.

In his later years, even after he became seriously ill, he worked on a project to build a World Trade Center near the Ontario International Airport, which never reached fruition.

Memberships and organizations
He was active in a number of organizations, principally as a Master Mason of the Claremont Masonic Lodge, as a member of the Almalikah Shrine and Pasadena Scottish Rite in Los Angeles, and of the Claremont University Club.

Death
Radlovic died at age 86 after struggles with cancer and diabetes. He left behind his wife Milena, of Claremont, sons Mike Radlovic of Diamond Bar, CA, Marko Radlovic and wife, Julie, with 3 granddaughters of Sherman Oaks, CA, daughter Alexandra Radlovic of Paris, France, and two children from a previous marriage, Sally and Adrian.

Longtime friends California State Senator Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga and L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich led their respective elected bodies in adjourning in Monte Radlovic's memory upon the day of his death in August 2000.

A close friend, Nicholas Polos, described Radlovic as “a warm and friendly person,” with “European manners,” and as “an elegant gentleman and scholar.” Congressman David Dreier said of him, “Monte Radlovic epitomized the American Dream. He was an immigrant who came to the United States and did extraordinarily well. I had the privilege of knowing him for 20 years, and was very, very saddened by his passing.”