Emilio Dario Svich, 93 years old, born in La Plata, Argentina in the barrio of Los Hornos of Croatian immigrant parents, on June 8, 1933, passed away on August 2nd, 2026 in a care facility in Bellflower, California, where he had lived, due to illness, the last five months of his life. The cause of death was cardiac arrest and pneumonia. He led a rich and varied life. As a young man he was a professional soccer player, a career in which he distinguished himself as a valued and heralded goalkeeper for teams in Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Canada and the United States. At six foot five in height, he was known for his daring on the soccer pitch, and his skill and grace as an athlete. He was renowned especially in Canadian National Soccer League History. In 1960 he joined Montreal Concordia as a goalkeeper. The team competed in the National Soccer League and in the International Soccer League in 1961 season. Svich led the team to victory as goalkeeper on July 30, 1961 when Montreal Concordia won the Canadian Challenge Trophy. He played a season with Comunicaciones in Guatemala and in March 1963 he joined the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals in the American Soccer League. The club were league champions in 1963. On February 14, 1965, Svich was named the "top goal tender in the league" in the Baltimore Sun newspaper. he continued playing through the 1967-68 season, when the club won the American Soccer League Championship. After his life in professional sports, Svich found a new career as a colorist, and later, plant manager in the textile industry where he worked for Brewster Finishing Company, Chris Stone & Associates, and Lida Manufacuturing Company, among others. Svich's career as a soccer player and colorist/plant manager dovetails with his life as a husband to Aracely Besteiro Gonzalez Svich, a teacher and his wife of 63 years (who passed away on September 28, 2024), and father to only child and his surviving daughter Caridad Svich, who is a playwright. The tight-knit family lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Paterson, New Jersey; Albemarle, North Carolina; Hialeah, Florida; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; Charlotte, North Carolina; San Diego, California, and South Gate, California, where Svich spent nearly 44 years of his work and retirement life. He was a good-natured, methodical person with a somewhat shy demeanor. Hard-working, passionate, whimsical and kind to others, he always was interested in meeting new people and in knowing about their life stories. He was especially fond of traveling and discovering new places; his last vacation with his family was to Hawaii. He had a hearty appetite and had a fondness for "ropa vieja" Cuban food and Argentinian "churrascos." He loved watching movies and was fond of both action and romantic films as well as very silly comedies. His favorite movie was "The Natural" starring Robert Redford. He was an avid golfer in his pre-retirement years, and he continued to cheer on many soccer teams as a spectator and fan. His favorite soccer player of all time was Lionel Messi, whose stats he could happily recite to anyone who would listen. Emilio Dario Svich lived a rich, full, complex life, and he will be very much missed by his surviving daughter Caridad Svich and his friends and extended family members in southern California and Argentina and elsewhere. There is no official service planned yet at this time, but Svich did wish for donations in his memory to be made to https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/caridad-svich-and-no-passport