Community
Ken Malich named Croatian of the Year at annual CroatiaFest
Pjer Šimunović, the Croatian ambassador to the United States, named former Gig Harbor city council member Ken Malich the 2025 Outstanding Croatian at Washington state’s annual CroatiaFest in Seattle last month.
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Cathryn Morovich of Bainbridge Island, president and co-chair of CroatiaFest, nominated Malich for the award. Their families have been friends for decades and their fathers were both commercial fishermen.
“When I think of Ken, I think of him as the ‘Croatian Good Will Ambassador’ for Tacoma and Gig Harbor,” Morovich wrote in an email. She wrote that Malich was chosen for the award “because of the love he has for his heritage and his involvement in the Croatian communities of Gig Harbor and Tacoma.”
Ken Malich shakes hands with Dr. Frank Brozovich, the Croatian honorary consul to Washington state. Also pictured are Renee Pea, the Croatian Consul General in Los Angeles, second from left; and Priscilla Lisisich, CroatiaFest board member.
Lifelong Gig Harbor resident
Malich was born in Tacoma but came home to Millville in the heart of Gig Harbor a few days after. Except for a stint in the military, he has lived here ever since.
Like his father and grandfather and many other Gig Harbor Croatians, Malich spent many years as a commercial fisherman. He started fishing with his dad at age 15 and eventually had his own boat. Although he worked for a while at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, he has always been a fisherman at heart.
“In his soul he’ll always define himself as a commercial fisherman,” his wife, Barb Malich said. “They never let that go.”
In those days, local fishermen talked in terms of the number of fish they caught and what kind, rather than pounds of fish. “Gig Harbor kids lived and breathed fishing in those days,” Ken Malich said. “We were labeled ‘fishermen’s kids.’ It was all that mattered in high school.”
Barb and Ken Malich
City council
Malich served five terms on the Gig Harbor City Council. He was first elected in 1976 and served for one term. Voters picked him again in 2007 and he served until 2019, when he “retired for good.”
“Ken’s deep love for our community shone through in every decision he made,” Councilwoman Jeni Woock, who worked alongside Malich for two years, said in an email. “I admired his unwavering commitment to doing what was right for Gig Harbor — whether he stood in the majority or the minority. His knowledge of our city’s history and his dedication to preserving what we love, while building what we need, continue to inspire me. Ken’s example remains a guiding light for all of us who care deeply about the future of our hometown.”
Other public service
Malich serves on the boards of the Slavonian Benevolent Society, the Harbor History Museum and the Skansie Netshed Foundation.
Stephanie Lile, the museum’s executive director, said it’s no surprise that Malich was selected for the Croatian of the Year honor.
“He’s incredibly committed to researching and sharing Croatian history. … He’s always willing to share his knowledge and experience while also continuing to learn,” Lile said.
Malich also co-founded Gig Harbor’s Sister City Council that links Gig Harbor to Milna on the island of Brač, Croatia. The town is near Sumartin, where many Gig Harbor families trace their origins.
During the pandemic, Malich helped organize the Slavonian American Benevolent Society’s (SABS) 120th anniversary celebration in Tacoma and gathered several of Gig Harbor’s old-time commercial fishermen to share their stories at the event.
Hometown diplomacy
Malich said he is most proud of bringing Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović to Gig Harbor in 2013 and hosting the country’s foreign minister on a tour of the history museum and Skansie Netshed in 2023.
The Prime Minister “just wanted to see Gig Harbor after he heard that so many of our streets have Croatian names,” Malich recalled. But it soon became a much bigger event when other Gig Harborites got involved, scheduling a special lunch at Skansie Netshed complete with speeches by state officials, national representatives and other bigwigs.
“Seattle also hosted the ambassador, and when he told the Seattle folks how fabulous Gig Harbor was, they got pretty jealous,” Malich said.
In 2023, Malich brought Renee Pea from the Croatian Consulate in Los Angeles to Tacoma to process a large group of Croatian citizenship applications.
AKA Maljic
Malich has made several trips to Croatia to research his family’s roots and connect with kinfolk. He learned that, in Croatia, Malich is spelled “Maljic,” and that his mother’s maiden name was different from her father’s.
“There’s a whole story in all that genealogy research,” he said. “Apparently, there are actually more people of Croatian descent outside of Croatia than inside.”
CroatiaFest is part of King County’s FestAll series celebrating different ethnic groups. It included Croatian dance and music, food and cooking demonstrations, Croatian wines, art and exhibits of northwest Croatian history. It’s billed as the largest Croatian festival in North America.
The presentation ceremony highlighted Malich’s contributions, from his early fishing days to his decades of civic leadership. He has “worked to strengthen both his hometown and his heritage,” the presenters said. “His life shows the value of perseverance, service and pride in one’s origins.”
Gig Harbor’s boatbuilding reputation was also in evidence at CroatiaFest. The “Brač,” a Croatian batana (skiff) was on display there. Gig Harbor BoatShop volunteers built it in 2022 under the direction of Mike Vlahovich, a former Gig Harbor resident who now lives in Croatia.
A Gig Harbor-built Batana boat on display at CroatiaFest.
