Radoje "Rod" Vulovic, a former Sea-Land Service executive and one of the founders of U.S. Ship Management died June 21 in Charlotte, N.C., after a lengthy illness.
Vulovic joined Sea-Land Service in 1978 as a naval architect and rose to vice president of ocean transportation services where he was responsible for building, operating, and maintenance and repair of the entire Sea-Land fleet of vessels operating worldwide.
Upon the sale of Sea-Land's international operations to Maersk in 1999, he established U.S. Ship Management Inc. together with Jay Keegan. Vulovic served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of USSM, which operated 19 U.S.-flag containerships time chartered to Maersk, from 1999-2005.
He was a member of the American Bureau of Shipping and had served for a number of years on the ABS Council. He served as chairman of the Marine Board of Transportation Research Board of The National Academies. He was also a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and of the Navy League.
Vulovic was born Dec. 8, 1941 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and became a U.S. citizen in 1979. He is survived by his wife Vlasta and their children, Sonia and Victor, and by a brother and a sister.
A remembrance gathering is planned for family and friends on June 28 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Vulovic residence in Charlotte.
The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Vulovic's memory to: Presbyterian Hospice & Palliative Care, P.O. Box 33549, Charlotte, NC 28233-3549.
Source: American Shiiper