Vlada Ilić (; 6 September 1882 – 3 July 1952) was a Serbian merchant, industrialist, and politician, who, as a mayor of Belgrade, from 1935 to 1939 oversaw the unprecedented development of the city. Named the "first modern mayor of Belgrade", he is today probably best remembered as the founder of the Belgrade Zoo.
Early life Ilić was born on in Vlasotince, south Serbia, as the youngest of six sons of Kostadina (née Stojilković) and Kosta Ilić, a mumdžija, or the soap-maker.
His father was among the first generation of merchants which developed in Vlasotince in the 1860s and 1870s, while the area was still occupied by the Ottoman Empire. He originally produced soaps and candles and his occupation name became his nickname, Kosta Mumdžija. After Turks withdrew in 1878, Kosta bought the land from them, becoming a landowner. He later developed the family business into the large company, which included the textile production.
He had five brothers (Sotir, Mihajlo, Milan, Petar and Blagoje) and a sister Jevrosima, nicknamed Roska. She was married to Mika Janković, from Leskovac, but they later moved to Belgrade. Blagoje was murdered by the Bulgarian occupation forces during the World War I, Milan and Petar had no children, so only Mihajlo and Jevrosima have living descendants today. They live in Belgrade, some are in Croatia, and one branch is in Leskovac.Saga o Vladi Iliću, 7 godina istraživanja Saše Stankovića Other brothers were mostly oriented to the business family owned in Leskovac. During Interbellum, Leskovac had 5,000 workers out of which 1,500 were employed by the Ilić family. They were the major benefactors in Leskovac prior to World War II (palaces, churches, newspapers, etc.)
As only Vlada and Sotir showed an interest into studying, their father sent them abroad. Vlada finished the Trading Academy in Vienna, Austria and then studied the industrial cloth production at the Textile Faculty in Aachen, Germany. He graduated and returned to Serbia in 1904.
Business career
His father Kosta, who also ventured into trade and shark loaning, bought the cable company near Leskovac in 1896. To expand the business, he, in partnership with his sons, bought a cloth factory from German entrepreneur Eugen Michael in 1906, which was located in Belgrade's neighborhood of Karaburma. One of the shareholders in the factory, originally established in 1897, was another German industrialist, Carl Wolf, who also owned a hemp fiber factory in Vranje. Connected by business, the Ilić family soon owned both factories which was core of the future business empire. In 1910 the company was transformed into the joint-stock company with the capital of 3,000,000 dinars in gold. Prior to the World War I, the brothers acquired the latest English technology for the cloth production as they bought the "Crompton Ltd", a Belgrade branch of the "Ungarische Tehtilindustrie". "Crompton Ltd", a successor of "Hattersley & Crompton", had looms made by the latest Hattersley technology, which boosted the production. During the World War I, he was one of the participants in the "Opanak affair", when footwear for the Serbian army produced by his company turned out to be unusable due to the extremely low quality.
Vlada Ilić also applied the principles he learned in Austria and Germany to the production in his concern. The conglomerate included 17 companies, including: cable factory (in the village of Kozare, near Leskovac), First Leskovac cloth factory and hemp fiber factory, wool fibre factory, linen factory (all in Leskovac), Hemicos factory and another linen factory (in Belgrade), Serbia Steam mill (Skopje), Serbian carpet factory "Lazar Dunđerski" and First Serbian net factory (in Bečkerek), wool linen factory (in Karlovac), hydro-electrical power plant (in Vlasotince), etc. Effect on the town of Leskovac was such, that until the 1990s, when Serbian economy collapsed, due to the developed texitile industry, Leskovac was nicknamed the "Serbian Manchester". The business survived through the economy crisis from 1931 to 1933, thanks to the loans from the National Bank. After his brother Sotir died in 1935, Vlada took over as a sole head of the conglomerate. Company was boosted when the new contract was signed with the Yugoslav Army in 1939.
Ilić enjoyed the major support of Milan Stojadinović, an economist and a politician, finance minister (1922–24, 1924–26, 1934–35) and prime minister of Yugoslavia (1935–39). He was member of Stojadinović's party Yugoslav Radical Union (JRZ or Jereza) and of Jugoras, state sponsored Yugoslav Workers Trade Union. As the competent entrepreneur, he was a longtime president of the City of Belgrade's Industrial Chamber and of the Central Industrial Corporation of Yugoslavia.
Apart from factories, it is known that he owned shares in the foreign banks, in Istanbul and Alexandria, but there were also stories about secret accounts in Swiss banks. Before the World War II broke out, Ilić was in negotiations with the Ford Motor Company for obtaining the license to assemble the cars in Yugoslavia.
Mayor of Belgrade
Ilić took over as the mayor on 10 January 1935, stayed in office until 13 September 1939, and conducted a considerable modernization of the city. He worked on fixing the social problems in the city and extensively built social housings, medical institutes, schools and children shelters, but also on draining the bogs and marshes, building parks, roads and squares.
Transportation
The first tram line which connected Belgrade to Zemun, across the Sava river was established over the new King Alexander Bridge, which was opened just few weeks before Ilić's tenure began. The first bridge in Belgrade over the Danube, the King Peter II Bridge (today the Pančevo Bridge) was opened on 27 October 1935. A railway from the Belgrade Main railway station, which encircled the central ridge of the city along the rivers, and then continuing over the King Peter II Bridge was also constructed.
Buildings
The foundations of the Saint Sava Church were laid on 10 May 1935. On 7 November 1935 the Monument to Vuk Karadžić was dedicated. In 1937, the last slum in downtown Belgrade, on Terazije, was demolished. In 1938 the construction of Palace Albania, at the time the tallest building in the Balkans began (finished in 1940).
The first planned expansion of Belgrade over the Sava began on 6 June 1937 with the construction of the Staro Sajmište complex for the Belgrade Fair and in 1938 the drying and filling of the surrounding marshes began, with an envisioned new city for 500,000 inhabitants. The new Communist authorities continued with the works after 1948 which resulted in the construction of New Belgrade. It hosted international fairs, with task of promoting the economy of Yugoslavia as well. On 10 September 1938 one of the exhibitions on the fair was the first presentation of television in this part of Europe by Philips, and the air shows and the first car show in Belgrade were held there. He personally donated funds for the construction of Military Medical Academy.
Numerous institutions were also opened: City Polyclinic (1935), Institute for Disinfection, City Hospital (1935), Polyclinic for the skin and venereal diseases (1938), orphanage in Zvečanska street (1935–38), University Children's Clinic in Tiršova (1936–40), etc. A dozen of new schools were built in this period.
After acquiring the Michael's factory in 1906 in Karaburma, Ilić sequestered a room and adapted it into the school for the children of his workers. He personally paid the teacher's wages. As the factory complex expanded and number of workers grew, the provisional school became too small, so Ilić rented the upper floor of the nearby Lavadinović kafana, still fully financed by him. The local population objected that a school and kafana share a building. Ilić then purchased a lot, some away and built a proper school while the old one remained in use until 1933. Named elementary school "Cloth Factory Ilić", it was built from his donations in 1923. It has been renamed "Jovan Cvijić" in 1931, a name it still bears today.
Zoo
As a mayor, Ilić personally donated the land and the fundings for the Belgrade Zoo. When opened on 12 July 1936 in the Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade Fortress, it covered an area twice larger than it occupies today. It stretched into the parts of the "Lower Town" section of the fortress, up to the Nebojša Tower.
On 12 July 2009 a bust dedicated to him was erected in the zoo with the inscription: "And after many decades, (still) thankful Belgraders". Also, one of the paths inside the zoo was named after him.
The zoo is today owned and operated by the city and is officially classified as the "bequest of Vlada Ilić".
Economy
He conducted the tax reform, concerning the sales taxes and reduced the cost of electricity (he was a main shareholder in Electrical Serbian Company), which boosted the development of craft shops. He also leveled the city budget and brought city finances in order. His tenure of almost 5 years in office was a rarity in Belgrade, as in the previous decades city saw a large number of mayors which would stay for short terms. City finances were in huge debt and city administration was characterized by the major corruption and negligence. He introduced structural reforms, austerity measures concerning the expenditures of the administration and hired new, young people.
Personal life
Ilić married Olga Jovanović (1898–1959), from Kikinda. Olga, nicknamed Cica, through her mother Olga Dunđerski was a member of another famous and wealthy family, the , Her grandfather, (1833–1917), was a major industrialist and landowner in Vojvodina and one of the reachest people in the region. Dunđerski was one of the shareholders in the Ilić brothers' conglomerate. Result of the merger of two wealthy families, both personal and business, was that Vlada Ilić was one of the richest persons in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, prior to the World War II. The best man at his wedding was King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, and he was a close friend to the regent, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia. The couple had no children. Ilić once said that he would give all of his wealth for just one child.
He owned a villa built in 1935, which was designed by Aleksandar Đorđević, in the Academism manner. The ornaments and the sculptural sets are works of Živojin Lukić. The edifice has a ceremonial entry porch, Ionian columns, ornamental windows and is considered one of the most distinguished houses in Belgrade's Interbellum architecture. After 1947 confiscation, the mansion was handed over to the "Generalexport" company, which later developed into the internationally successful "Genex". After almost 50 years, the "Genex" sold villa, through an ad, to Nemanja Đorđević, then a senior member of JUL, or Yugoslav Left, political party founded by Mirjana Marković, first lady of Serbia as a wife of Slobodan Milošević. Đorđević then bestowed it to his party. so it became the seat of JUL. Đorđević then sued the party wanting the house back and the successors of Vlada Ilić also entered the process of restitution, asking for villa to be returned to them. The court ultimately decided in Đorđević's favor. The mansion is located in the neighborhood of Stari Grad, in modern Venizelosova street and today is adapted into the club and hotel Admiral, with 4 stars and 17 rooms and apartments. There are three special rooms with different interiors: French room, in the French Empire style, Italian room, in the Italian baroque style while the room used by Marković, and nicknamed "Mira's room" after her, was adapted into the Russian room, in the Russian Empire style.