Ðoko "Šopen" Kaluderovic

Doko Kaluderovic passed away on September 6, 2026, at his home in Redondo Beach. He was born in 1951 in Yugoslavia to Dušan and Milka Kaluderovic.

To his grandchildren, he was Deda. To nearly everyone else, he was Sopen, a nickname he earned as a boy after he and his friends were caught stealing apples and given a spanking by the owner. His friends said he cried the way Sopen plays the piano, and the name stuck for the rest of his life.

He went on to become a professional basketball player in Yugoslavia, and loved sports his whole life. Before Jokic or Doncic, there was Kaluderovic.

He met his wife, Mladenka, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, and from that moment on, she was the center of his universe. They were married for 54 years.

When war turned him against his own neighbors, he did not pick up a gun to fight out of fear. Instead, he sold it, and made the impossible decision to leave his home to bring his family to safety and protect those he had to leave behind.

More than anything, he loved and lived for his family and friends. He is survived by the love of his life, Mladenka; his sister, Nada; his sons, Igor and Vedran; four grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

There is a word in Bosnian, Taman. It doesn't translate easily into English, but it means just right, or perfect, in the way that nothing is missing and nothing is in excess. He loved the song by that name and sang it loudly.

He built a Taman life, not once, but twice. Even when the atrocities of war changed everything, he found Taman again.