worn the cravat, today especially.
The cravat, or tie in modern usage,
was originally an adornment of the
military in ancient Croatia when
they went to battle. Croat mercenar-
ies on the court of the French Louis
XIV wore a tied scarf, that became
fashionable to emulate, and was soon
called cravatte. There is no truth to
the rumor that some want to now
rename the country as “Tie Land”.
The Croatian inventor Penkala pat-
ented many inventions which are
still used today the most famous was
his ballpoint pen. Penkala is also re-
sponsible for the mechanical pencil
in 1906, then called the “automatic
pencil”, and the 1st solid-ink foun-
tain pen in 1907. Anthony Lucas
invented modern methods of oil ex-
traction came to Texas from Croatia.
Tomislav Uzelac is the Croatian pro-
grammer who created AMP, consid-
ered the first successful MP3 Player.
Then there is arguably the most fa-
mous Croatian inventor, and one of
the greatest inventors and scientists
of all times, Nikola Tesla. It’s hard to
choose just one of Tesla’s hundreds
of inventions, but the Croatian-born
inventor is perhaps most famous for
developing alternating current, the
system that powers our homes and
businesses even today.
Q: Speaking of amazing people,
we think you’re pretty amazing, so
please tell us about you and what
you do along with your background
and the areas your role as Consul
covers.
A: I am a retired banker, accountant
and an auditor. I worked in bank-
ing, the medical field and public ac-
counting. I was fortunate to retire
early. When I retired, I had a lot of
friends in the Consular Corps, both
honorary & career consuls, so my
wife, Lisa Powell, and I attended a
lot of functions with them. I finally
38 iF Magazine | July 2017
decided it seemed like it might be
a worthwhile thing to do with my
time. I researched countries not
represented in Texas and concluded
that Croatia would be a good fit for
me. A point I’m often asked about is
that since my last name is Berquist,
which is Swedish, people naturally
assume my mother was a Croat. Ac-
tually, my father was 100% Swedish
and my mother was 100% Dutch …
I have no Croatian blood. I had to
reinvent myself, so to speak. It took
three years to get the job and now
I’ve been doing it for five years. It’s
business development primarily but I
represent Croatia at many functions
here in Texas. I do a lot of work con-
cerning visa and passport requests.
In fact, someone was here yesterday
requiring a visa. Americans do not
need visas to go to Croatia though
people that have foreign passports
generally do. Instead of them hav-
ing to travel to Washington or Los
Angeles to get their visas approved,
I meet them and verify their identity,
then send that information on elec-
tronically to L.A. Additionally, we
have an annual Consular Day here in
Houston as well as Dallas and Aus-
tin where people will come from all
over the state to get their paperwork
done — visas, passports, etc. Out-
side of being married to my amazing
wife and having our three children,
becoming an honorary consul is the
best that could have happened to me.
at the University of Houston and the
Academy of Music at the University
of Zagreb. The first fruits of this will
be in October when the Dean of the
Academy of Music, Dalibor Ciko-
jevi, a brilliant pianist, will be leading
master classes and holding a recital
with his wife at the Moores School.
Then it will be time for the Moores
School to reciprocate and send peo-
ple to Zagreb.
While I have the chance, I would like
to mention that there is a very ac-
tive group of Croats here in Houston.
They long ago formed The Lone Star
Croatian Club and have been ex-
tremely supportive of my efforts here.
Wonderful people, good friends. The
website for the Lone Star Croatian
Club is http://croatiantx.homestead.
com/
According to New York Times, Croatia
is the best place for a summer visit in
2017 because of its superb beaches,
clear water lagoons, rocky moun-
tains next to turquoise waters and
fine sand, all in the best conditions.
The article noted that Croatia offers
prime beach localities, delicious food
and plenty of culture and history.
The local tourist offices are glad for
such recognition, noting that it will
certainly contribute to the country’s
already established reputation. The
Times based its impression on data
Thus far, the highlight of my new provided by several notable travel
career as consul was in May, 2014, agencies. Undoubtedly, Croatia has
when then-Croatian President H.E. all of the ingredients that can make a
Ivo Josipovi came to Houston for a vacation perfect:.
three day official visit to discuss en-
ergy and cultural exchange. I would Contact information:
encourage you to see the news video Philip Berquist
of the President’s visit to the Univer- Consul (Hon.) Republic of Croatia
sity of Houston at https://youtu.be/ 1415 Congress Street, Suite 200
l3ZsNVqLkro. The accomplishment Houston, Texas 77002-2136
of which I am most proud is the re- USA
lationship that I have established be- 713.444.1442
tween the Moores School of Music