Ex-Boxing Champ from Wildwood Dies at 89

Mike Buha, the son of Serbian immigrants who attended McKinley High School and who eventually became a boxing champion in 1946, died on Wednesday, according to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Buha, of Wildwood, named Milenko Buha at birth, died of complications from congestive heart failure at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country, the Post reported. He was just shy of his 90th birthday on Saturday.

At a reported height of 6-feet-3, Buha boxed as a light-heavyweight and a heavyweight with a record of 16 wins (13 by knockout), three losses and two draws, according to the boxing record website BoxRec.com.

The family's Legacy.com funeral notice says Buha served in the U.S. Navy and was involved in the D-Day invasion at Normandy, and later was a union pipefitter in Local 562 as a foreman, general foreman, and steward. 

Visitation will be at 4 p.m. Monday at John L. Ziegenhein & Sons Funeral Home, 7027 Gravois Avenue, and a funeral service will follow at 7 p.m. Burial will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

According to the Post-Dispatch, Buka is survived by survived by his wife, Marie; sons Michael of Chesterfield and Matthew of Houston; and five grandchildren.