Milan Mandarić

He was born near Gospić, Yugoslavia (today Croatia), and grew up in Novi Sad.

Yugoslavia and Serbia

Mandarić took control of his father's machine shop aged 21, and by the age of 26 had turned it into one of the largest businesses in the country.

United States

In 1969, worried by the Yugoslav government's view of his business, Mandarić left Yugoslavia and settled in the United States. He had to leave most of his fortune behind, and got a job for an American computer component manufacturer in California. When two of the senior managers left to start their own firm, Mandarić was invited to be their third partner. The firm was successful, but disagreements over manufacturing processes led to Mandarić leaving to form his own company, Lika Corporation, in 1971. In 1976, he became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. By 1976, Lika Corp. was the largest manufacturer of computer components in the U.S., and Mandarić was pioneering the boom that led to the creation of California's Silicon Valley.

On 23 December 2009, Mandarić was charged with two counts of tax evasion by the Crown Prosecution Service, however he was found not guilty on 8 February 2012.

Mandarić died on 4 October 2025, at the age of 87.