Pagovich was born on March 3rd, 1941, in the small city of Coho (known in Russian as Soborgornye or Соборгорные) – now a part of the New Washington metro area. His parents, Bogomil Pagovich (1917-1980), a longshoreman, and Yelena Kolev (1916-1957), a waitress, had three other children: Danilo (b. 1937), Natasha (b. 1939) and Andrey (b. 1951). He occasionally stayed with his sister during this period, but he resented the fact that she and her family lived very "American-style" lives, and only spoke English at home.