To support himself and his family, he established what became a successful grocery business and fruit stand in the 1870s. By 1893 he had settled in New Orleans and entered the seafood industry, selling ice, fish, and oysters in the French Quarter. At least one of his brothers, Blasius “Bozo” Fucich (1854–1888), was also engaged in the oyster industry in the French Quarter.  

Sam Fucich was a leader within the local Croatian community, serving as a two-term president of the Slavonian Benevolent Association, an organization known today as the Croatian Benevolent Association. He played a prominent role in the development of the commercial oyster industry within Louisiana, helping to develop the Nestor Canal in Plaquemines Parish near where he leased oyster beds.

He provided housing for oystermen and established a company store to provide for their needs; in turn, they exclusively sold the oysters they caught to him. Fucich Bayou, located in Plaquemines Parish near Pointe à La Hache, was named after him. Following his death his namesake son, Simeone Modesto Fucich (1881–1958), assumed control of the family business, which he continued to operate until 1932. 

In an online auction in May 2024, the Collection acquired an 1870s ledger documenting Sam Fucich’s grocery business in Ascension Parish. Hoping to learn more about the item, curators connected with the seller, who offered for sale a small group of Fucich family materials.  

This collection of correspondence, ephemera, news clippings, and photographs documents the lives of members of the Fucich family between 1875 and 1953. The family-operated oyster business is the primary focus of the materials, which include remarkable items such as receipts for leases of oyster bedding grounds, an item of correspondence on the elaborately illustrated letterhead of the Fucich family’s Crescent City Oyster and Fish Depot, and a tag from an oyster bag bearing the name and Dumaine Street address of the business. 

Among the correspondence within the collection is a 1914 letter on the letterhead of the Slavonian Benevolent Association. Particularly compelling within the family photographs are nine tintypes in excellent condition, including one that can be identified as Sam Fucich and his wife, Marie Caliste Martinez (1852–1938).