| Niko Dragos | |
 Dragos on his 110th birthday in 2017 | |
| Birth: | 27 August 1907 Griblje, Crnomelj, White Carniola, Austria-Hungary (now Slovenia) |
| Death: | 31 March 2018 Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| Age: | 110 years, 216 days |
| Country: |  SVN
|
| Validated | |
Nikolaj "Niko" Dragos (Slovenian: Dragoš; 27 August 1907 – 31 March 2018) was a Slovenian supercentenarian who was the oldest person in Slovenia at the time of his death. He was the oldest Slovenian man of all time, and the first Slovenian man to become a supercentenarian. He was also the last surviving European man to have been born in 1907. His age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).
Biography
Dragos was born in Griblje near Crnomelj (present-day Slovenia; Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time of his birth), the ninth of 12 children to Ivan and Barbara Dragos. He finished primary school in Griblje.
Dragos found a job in the Yugoslav military and was sent to a Yugoslav-Bulgarian border in present-day Serbia as a border guard. Later he became a head of the border patrol. At the outbreak of WWII, he was captured by the Germans and sent to a prisoner of war camp in present-day Austria, where he remained until the end of the war. After the war, he found a job in the Yugoslav police where he worked primarily as a record clerk. He retired in 1965.
Dragos married in 1947. He had two children: a son and a daughter. At the request of his family, he wrote an autobiography, entitled Mojih sto let (My one hundred years) which was published in 2007. He also played musical instruments throughout his life, and still played tamboura and guitar even as a centenarian. He lived at home in Ljubljana, before moving in to a retirement home at the age of 101.
He became the oldest known living person in Slovenia, following the death of 106-year-old Marija Rihar on 23 January 2014. In August 2017, he celebrated his 110th birthday and became a supercentenarian.
Dragos died in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 31 March 2018 at the age of 110 years, 216 days. Following his death, then 108-year-old Matilda Serec became the oldest known living person in Slovenia, and then 105-year-old Rafael Merkelj became the oldest known living man in Slovenia.
Gallery
References
- 2020 validations Gerontology Research Group
- Najstarejši član SDS praznoval 104. rojstni dan SDS, 2 September 2011
- Nikolaj Dragoš upihnil 108. svečko Dnevnik, 27 August 2015
- Najstarejši Slovenec od mrtvih obudil vojaka Slovenske Novice, 16 September 2016
- Predsednik republike se bo udeležil praznovanja 110. rojstnega dne gospoda Nikolaja Dragoša Predsednik Republike Slovenije, 29 August 2017
- Niko Dragoš, kleni Belokranjec in najstarejši Slovenec, praznoval 110. rojstni dan Moja Dolenjska, 29 August 2017
- Najstarejši Slovenec znova praznoval v družbi predsednika države Dolenjski List, 30 August 2017
- Umrl najstarejši Slovenec, star 110 let Dnevnik, 2 April 2018
| Slovenia's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E) |
|
Marija Bandelj • Katarina Marinic • Vida Ursic • Ana Marija Kern • Julijana Jamsek • Marija Rihar • Niko Dragos • Matilda Serec • Julijana Zakrajsek |
| Slovenia's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E) |
|
Ivan Likavec • Niko Dragos • Rafael Merkelj • Mihael Jersic • Joze Pogacnik • Aleksander Lestan |