Jakov Kitarović (born 4 October 1968) is a Croatian engineer who is the husband of Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the 4th President of Croatia from 2015 to 2020, who was elected to office in the January 2015 presidential election by defeating the 3rd president

Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović (; born 28 August 1957) is a Croatia, Croatian Academic staff, academic, jurist, composer, and politician who served as the president of Croatia from 2010 to 2015. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communist ...

. As a result, he succeeded Tatjana Josipović as First Spouse and is the first man in the role, as well as the youngest to date, aged 46 at the time.

Early life

He was born in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

, on 4 October 1968 as the son of Ivo Kitarović, a professor at the Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Rijeka, who is originally from

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

. Kitarović graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing of the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

in 1998 and also has a degree in nautical engineering from the Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Rijeka.

Private life

Jakov Kitarović married Kolinda Grabar in 1996 and they have two children. Following his wife's election to the presidency, he worked in a

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

-based software firm, Reversing Labs and later took up a position as a corporate security consultant in AD Plastik, the largest

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n manufacturer of

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

parts for the car industry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitarović, Jakov 1968 births Living people Scientists from Rijeka Spouses of presidents of Croatia University of Rijeka alumni University of Zagreb alumni