Knut Villy Korsæth (19 January 1932 – 15 July 2022) was a Norwegian educator, sports official and politician for the Labour Party. Mainly working as a school director during his professional life, he was also involved in politics and sports administration where he lived. His highest office was that of County Governor, and he was also a member of the board of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports.

Career

Korsæth's first job was as a school teacher in Sagene from 1953 to 1961. At the same time, he completed the examen artium in 1954, and took exams to work as a teacher in English and physical education. In 1967 he graduated in geography with a minor in history. He had already worked as the municipal school inspector in Flå since 1961, and in

Nordre Land Nordre Land is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Land. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dokka. Other villages in the municipality include Vest-Torpa, Nord-To ...

from 1965 to 1971. He was a member of Nordre Land municipal council from 1967 to 1971. From 1971 to 1974 he was the school director in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

. He was the school director of Oppland county from 1974 to 1981, but had a leave of absence most of the period, as he served as the mayor of Lillehammer from 1975 to 1981. From 1973 to 1981 he was also a deputy member of the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

. He was then the County Governor of Oppland from 1981 to 2002. Korsæth was involved in the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities between 1976 and 1983. He was also a member of the board of De Sandvigske Samlinger from 1976 to 1983, of

Norsk Rikstoto The Norsk Rikstoto (lit. 'Norwegian National Tote') is a foundation that supervises parimutuel betting on animal racing in Norway. It was established on 24 September 1982 by the Norwegian Trotting Association and the Norwegian Jockey Club to run ...

from 1988 to 1990 and of Norway Crafts from 1990 to 1995. Korsæth was also involved in sports for many years. While living in Flå, he was the chairman of the local sports club

Flå IL Flå Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Flå, Melhus, Sør-Trøndelag. It has sections for association football, team handball and Nordic skiing. It was founded on 14 July 1947 as a merger of ''IL Urd'' (founded 1894) and the workers' s ...

from 1961 to 1965, and from 1963 to 1965 he was deputy chairman of the district athletics association and chaired the district skiing association. From 1984 to 1985 he chaired

Lillehammer IF Lillehammer Idrettforening is a Norwegian athletics club from Lillehammer, founded on 28 May 1919. At that time city already had four different sports teams; for cross-country skiing (since 1882), gymnastics (since 1892), speed skating (since 18 ...

, and also the Gudbrandsdal athletics district association. He also chaired its successor organization, the Oppland district athletics association, from 1985 to 1987 and 2005 to 2007. He was a central board member of the Norwegian Athletics Association from 1985 to 1990, and of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports from 1991 to 1994. He helped organize the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

at Lillehammer. He later chaired the Oppland district sports association from 1994 to 2002, and the handball club

Gjøvik og Vardal HK is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Toten. The administrative centre of the municipality is Gjøvik (town), town of Gjøv ...

from 2002 to 2004. In 2003 he was proclaimed an honorary member of the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports. He was decorated as a Commander of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korsaeth, Knut 1932 births 2022 deaths People from Nordre Land People from Lillehammer Norwegian schoolteachers Mayors of places in Oppland Deputy members of the Storting Labour Party (Norway) politicians County governors of Norway Order of Saint Olav Norwegian sports executives and administrators