Gojko Šušak (; 16 March 1945 – 3 May 1998) was a Croatian politician who held the post of Minister of Defence from 1991 to 1998 under President Franjo Tuđman. From 1990 to 1991 he was the Minister of Emigration and Šušin 1991 the Deputy Minister of Defence.
Born in Široki Brijeg, he attended the University of Rijeka in 1963. In 1969 Šušak emigrated to Canada where he worked in the restaurant and construction business and rose to prominence within the Croatian diaspora in North America in the following decades. In the late 1980s he became a close friend and associate to Franjo Tuđman, leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party seeking Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia.
In 1990, he returned to Croatia. After Tuđman became president following the 1990 parliamentary election, Šušak was named Minister of Emigration and helped gather economic aid from Croatian emigrants. From early 1991 he was the Deputy Minister of Defence. In September 1991 he was appointed Minister of Defence, an office he held throughout the Croatian War of Independence. As minister, Šušak reorganized and modernized the Croatian Army, leading it to a status of a regional power. He contributed to the planning of key military operations, particularly Operation Storm in 1995 that effectively ended the war in Croatia. He supported the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the 1992–94 Croat–Bosniak War and later helped broker the 1995 Dayton Agreement. During his term in office he forged close contacts with the United States Department of Defense. Šušak's tenure as Defence Minister is the longest in Croatian history and lasted until his death in 1998.
Early life
Šušak was born on 16 March 1945 in Široki Brijeg, in the Croat-dominated part of the Herzegovina region in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the sixth child of Ante and Stana Šušak. Both his father and brother disappeared at the end of World War II. Both of them fought in the NDH Armed Forces and were last seen in Zagreb after the Yugoslav Army entered the city. Šušak finished elementary school and high school in Široki Brijeg. In 1963 he moved to Rijeka where he studied Physics and Mathematics at the teacher's college of the University of Rijeka.
Emigration to Canada
Šušak left Yugoslavia on 15 August 1968 and moved to Frohnleiten in Austria, where he lived for six months. Then he emigrated to Canada and studied Business and Administration at the Algonquin College in Ottawa. From 1969 to 1972 he was a manager at the Scott's Chicken Villa chain of restaurants. In 1972, he engaged in private business and founded his own small business, Susak Enterprises Ltd and GG Decor and Interior Design. He ran a successful chain of pizza restaurants. In 1973, he married another Croatian migrant, Đurđa Gojmerac, a social worker. They had two daughters, Katarina and Jelena, and a son, Tomislav, and lived in Ottawa.
He was associated with Croatian Franciscans in Canada, especially with their mission in Norval that helped gather Croats in North America. Šušak was one of the most active Croat migrants in Canada and soon he became a prominent figure among Croatian Canadians. He was involved with organizing Croat schools, football clubs and church events. He established the Croatian Studies Foundation and the Croatian-Canadian Cultural Federation. From 1985 Šušak was the director of the Croatian School in Ottawa. He assisted in opening the Croatian studies chair at the University of Waterloo in 1988.
In 1987, Croatian dissident Franjo Tuđman made his first visit to Canadian Croat communities. There he met Šušak, who organized his first lecture. Tuđman later founded the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in 1989. Šušak, an ardent anti-communist and supporter of Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia, helped Tuđman and raised money for his campaign. He soon became one of Tuđman's closest associates.