Strahinja "Sam" Krstic, 78, passed away on October 30, 2016, in Cambridge, Ohio, where he had lived since 2011. He was born on September 16, 1938, in Belgrade, Serbia, to the late Caslav and Smilja Krstic.
After completing high school, Sam went on to study at Belgrade University's prestigious Economics Faculty. But always challenging the status quo, and eager to see the world, he soon left for Paris, France, where he and his high school sweetheart, Milka Premovic, were wed. They lived there for six years before the two of them moved to the United States in 1969 to pursue the American Dream.
That dream led to starting a family as well as owning and running two businesses -- including Sam's Foreign Cars -- in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, for about 30 years. Later in life, following his independent nature and passion for travel, Sam became an enthusiastic long-haul owner-operator trucker, a job that took him all over North America. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, boating, skiing and, in his younger days, rowing, and was even a member of one of Yugoslavia's top-ranked crew teams.
Sam's lifelong fighting spirit was always with him, till the very end; he heroically battled cancer for more than nine years and beat all the odds, having initially been given only six months to live. No matter the challenge, he never backed down, always encouraging others to keep to their goals, often with his familiar rallying cry of "Go, go, go -- push, push, push -- never give up!"
Sam is survived by his wife, Milka, his two sons, George and Marko, his grandson Sava, his sister Jelica, and his nieces, Tatjana and Sabina. Graveside services and burial will take place on Friday, November 4, 2016, at 1:00 p.m. in Northwood Cemetery in Cambridge. Online condolences can be sent to the family at www.bundy-lawfuneralhome.com .