Jovanka Broz, widow of Josip Broz Tito, died at 88

Jovanka Broz, the widow of Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian communist leader, died on 20 October 2013 in Belgrade at the age of 88.

Jovanka was Tito's personal secretary before becoming his third wife in 1952. However after Tito's death in 1980 she lived in isolation and under house arrest for a time. She was admitted to hospital in August 2013 with serious heart ailments.

About Jovanka Broj

1. Jovanka Budisavljevic Broj, an ethnic Serb, was born into a farming family in what is now Croatia on 7 December 1924.
2. She joined Yugoslav’s World War II resistance fighters under Tito’s command at 17 and remained in the trenches until the end of the war, attaining the rank of captain.
3. After her marriage to Yugoslavia's authoritarian President Josip Broz - known as Tito - she spent nearly three decades as first lady.

Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz (Tito) was born in in Croatia in 1892. He was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman.

Josip Broz Tito led the Communist Partisan resistance movement that fought the Nazi occupiers of Yugoslavia during World War II.  After the war, Tito, an ethnic Croat, took power and ruled the multiethnic federation of Yugoslavia with a heavy hand.

Josip Broz Tito is one of the founding fathers of Non- Ailgned Movement.

Josip Broz Tito was died on 4 May 1980.