Odd Gleditsch Sr. (2 October 1894 – 17 January 1990) was a Norwegian business entrepreneur. The founder of the paint company
Jotun. He was CEO of the company from 1926 to 1967.
Personal life
Gleditsch was born in
Sandefjord
Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...
in
Vestfold
Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...
, Norway. He was a son of whaler Einar S. Gleditsch (1862–1913) and Maren Olea Kverne (1862–1933).
He was a second cousin of
Rolf,
Ellen
Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena and Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004.
People named Ellen include:
* Ellen Adarna (born 1988), Filipino actress
* Elle ...
,
Kristian
Kristian is a name in several languages, and is a form of Christian.
Meaning in different languages
The name is used in several languages, among them Albanian, Slovak, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Bosnian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Croa ...
and
Henry Gleditsch
Henry Cochrane Williamsen Gleditsch (9 November 1902 – 6 October 1942) was a Norwegian actor and theatre director.
He was born in Kristiania. In his young days he participated in skiing for SFK Lyn. He married Synnøve Tanvik in 1932.
He ...
, and a first cousin once removed of
Kristen Gran Gleditsch and
Jens Gran Gleditsch
Jens Gran Gleditsch (1860–1931) was a Norwegian bishop and theologian. He was a brother of Kristen Gran Gleditsch.
Gleditsch was born on 6 December 1860 in Voss, Søndre Bergenhus, Norway. He received his cand.theol. degree in 1883 from the ...
.
He was the second cousin of
Ellen Gleditsch
Ellen Gleditsch (29 December 1879 – 5 June 1968) was a Norwegian radiochemist and Norway's second female professor. Starting her career as an assistant to Marie Curie, she became a pioneer in radiochemistry, establishing the half-life of radiu ...
,
radiochemist and Norway's second female professor and
Kristian Gleditsch
Kristian Gleditsch, MBE (30 June 1901 – 7 April 1973) was a Norwegian civil engineer and geodesist. He served as and Director of the Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority from 1945 until 1971.
Background
He was born in Tromsøysund (now Tr ...
.
In 1921 he married merchant's daughters Fanny Vibetoe (1900–1973).
[ His son Odd Gleditsch Jr. took over the company leadership in Jotun, retiring as CEO in 1979.
]
Career
After finishing middle school he spent six seasons as a whaler in the Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...
.[ Whaling was the foremost business in his hometown Sandefjord. However, during ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
stock market speculation became more lucrative. Gleditsch tried his luck from 1916, but the market crashed in 1918. In 1920 he opened shop as a colourman and seller of ship equipment. In 1926 he saw an opportunity to manufacture the paint he sold, as he took over the Jotun factory from Johan Bryde Johan Bryde (June 1858 – May 1925) was a Norwegian businessperson, ship owner and whaler. He helped establish the first modern whaling station in the country of South Africa. The Bryde's whale (''Balaenoptera brydei'') is named after him.
Biogra ...
. The factory had gone bankrupt in 1925, but was now resurrected under the name Jotun Kemiske Fabrik.[
In 1931, ]chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...
Dr. Manfred Ragg developed an anti-corrosive, rust-inhibiting product. Gleditsch purchased the patent rights to the product and Jotun introduced ''Arcanol'' as a reliable marine coatings principally for shipowners. This started the upward trend for Jotun.
The company opened a research laboratory in 1950, and expanded with factories in the Kingdom of Libya
The Kingdom of Libya ( ar, المملكة الليبية, lit=Libyan Kingdom, translit=Al-Mamlakah Al-Lībiyya; it, Regno di Libia), known as the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, was a constitutional monarchy in North Africa which ca ...
in 1962 and Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
in 1967. In 1967 Odd Gleditsch Jr. became CEO. Gleditsch Sr. continued as a board member until 1971.[ In 1972, through a merger, Jotun Kemiske Fabrik changed its name to Jotun.]Framnæs Mekaniske Værksted Framnæs shipyard (Framnæs mekaniske Værksted) was a former Norwegian shipbuilding and engineering firm headquartered in Sandefjord, in Vestfold county, Norway. Originally strongly linked to the whaling industry, in later years it entered into mor ...
, chairman of Privatbanken i Sandefjord
Carl Frederik Tietgen (19 March 1829 – 19 October 1901) was a Danish financier and industrialist. He played an important role in the industrialisation of Denmark as the founder of numerous prominent Danish companies, many of which are still i ...
and the supervisory board of A/S Kosmos A/S Kosmos was a shipping and industrial company from Sandefjord.
It was founded in 1928 by Anders Jahre, Svend Foyn Bruun, Sr. and Anton Barth von der Lippe as Hvalfangstselskapet Kosmos A/S. In 1949 Hvalfangstselskapet Kosmos A/S (A/S Kosmos) an ...
, and honorary member of the Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers. In 1965 he was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
. He died in January 1990 at Sandefjord.[
]
References
Related reading
The Beginning of The Paint Business
External links
Jotun website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gleditsch, Odd Sr
1894 births
1990 deaths
People from Sandefjord
Norwegian people in whaling
Norwegian industrialists
Norwegian company founders