environment | January 09, 2026

Robert Herjavec Parents: Vladimir Herjavec and Katica Herjavec

Robert Herjavec is a Croatian-Canadian businessman, investor, and television personality.

Herjavec founded BRAK Systems, a Canadian integrator of Internet security software, and sold it to AT&T Canada in 2000 for $30.2 million.

In 2003, he founded The Herjavec Group, currently one of the largest information technology and computer security companies in Canada, with over $200 million in annual revenue.

Robert Herjavec Parents: Vladimir Herjavec and Katica Herjavec

Robert Herjavec’s parents are Vladimir Herjavec and Katica Herjavec. They are both from Croatia.

Vladimir Herjavec escaped from jail in a communist country, then Yugoslavia, and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his wife, Katica Herjavec and son, Robert Herjavec. Robert was then 8 years old. The family arrived on a boat and had a single suitcase and only $20.

The Herjavec family eventually settled in Toronto, where they lived in a family friend’s home basement for 18 months.

Robert’s father Vladimir got a job in a factory in Mississauga, making $76 a week to cater for the family.

Katica passed away in 2007 after a long battle with ovarian cancer and Vladimir Herjavec died in 2010.