Toussaint Hočevar or Toussaint Hocevar was a Slovenian American economic historian.

Biography

Hočevar was born in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He spent his childhood in the small town of Vrhnika

Vrhnika

Vrhnika is a town and a municipality in Slovenia. It is situated on the Ljubljanica River, 21 km from Ljubljana along the A1 motorway.-History:...

 near Ljubljana, where his father served as mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

. Between 1937 and 1941 Toussaint attended an elite private Roman Catholic high school in the town of Bol

Bol, Croatia

Bol is a town on the south of the island of Brač in theSplit-Dalmatia County of Croatia, population 1,661 .Bol is renowned for its most popular beach, the Zlatni rat . It is a promontory composed mostly of pebble rock that visibly shifts with the tidal movement, a unique sight...

 on the Dalmatia

Dalmatia

Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....

n island of Brač

Brac

Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...

 administered by the Dominican order

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

. After the Axis

Axis Powers

The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

 invasion of Yugoslavia

Invasion of Yugoslavia

The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...

 in April 1941, he moved back to Slovenia and continued his studies in the prestigious Bežigrad Grammar School

Bežigrad Grammar School

Bežigrad Gymnasium is a selective coeducational state secondary school for students aged between 15 to 20. It is named after the Bežigrad district in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where it is located...

 in Ljubljana, graduating in 1945. In 1946 he enrolled at the University of Ljubljana

University of Ljubljana

The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...

. The same year, however, he decided to leave Communist Yugoslavia and emigrate to the neighbouring Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. In 1951 he graduated from economy

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

 at the University of Innsbruck

Innsbruck

- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...

. The same year he moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, continuing his studies at the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

.

In 1957, he became professor at the Northern State University

Northern State University

Northern State University is a four-year public university located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, United States. NSU is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and offers 38 majors and 42 minors, as well as six associate, eight pre-professional and nine graduate degrees.-History:Founded on the...

 in Aberdeen, South Dakota

Aberdeen, South Dakota

Aberdeen is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, about 125 mi northeast of Pierre. Settled in 1880, it was incorporated in 1882. The city population was 26,091 at the 2010 census. The American News is the local newspaper...

. In 1960 he started teaching at Keuka College

Keuka College

Founded in 1890 and located on the shores of Keuka Lake in New York State’s Finger Lakes region, Keuka College is an independent, four-year, residential, coeducational college that places emphasis on career and pre-professional education....

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, in 1966 at the Florida State University

Florida State University

The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

, and then at the University of New Orleans

University of New Orleans

The University of New Orleans, often referred to locally as UNO, is a medium-sized public urban university located on the New Orleans Lakefront within New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 association. Currently UNO is without a proper chancellor...

 where he stayed until his death. He died in New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, in 1987, and was buried in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

Academic achievements

Hočevar was one of the foremost researchers of the economic history of the Slovene Lands

Slovene Lands

Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...

 and of the western Balkans. He was one of the co-founders of the Society for Slovene Studies. He lectured at numerous universities in Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

, including the University of Munich, Klagenfurt

University of Klagenfurt

The University of Klagenfurt was founded in 1960 in Klagenfurt, Austria. It began as a College of Educational Studies . Since October 2004 the official German name is Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt in order to stress the intercultural connections between the Alpine regions and the Adriatic Sea...

 and Ljubljana

University of Ljubljana

The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...

. The Toussaint Hocevar Memorial Award granted by the University of New Orleans is named after him.

Besides numerous treatises in history, economy and system theory, he was also the co-author, together with Miran Hladnik, of a popular manual of Slovene language for travelers, which was published posthumously in 1988.

Major works

• Slovenia's Role in Yugoslav Economy (Columbus, Ohio, 1964);
• The Structure of the Slovenian Economy 1848-1963 (New York, 1965);
• Slovenski družbeni razvoj ("The Slovenian Social Development"; New Orleans, 1979);
• The European Monetary System : Its Evolution and Impact, together with Ivan Ribnikar (New Orleans, 1982);

Sources and references

• Alessio Lokar, In honor of the memory of Toussaint S. Hočevar. New York: Society for Slovene Studies, 1989.