Tauno Uolevi Raade (5 July 1912 – 13 May 1998) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

industrialist and a long-time

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Neste Neste Oyj (international name: Neste Corporation; former names Neste Oil Corporation and Fortum Oil and Gas Oy) is an oil refining and marketing company located in Espoo, Finland. It produces, refines and markets oil products, provides eng ...

(now ''Neste Oil''), the Finnish national oil refining company. Raade was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, and received university degrees from

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; fi, Teknillinen korkeakoulu; sv, Tekniska högskolan) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in ...

(TKK) and Åbo Akademi. At TKK, he was one of the founders of the student flying club. During the Second World War he initially served as a fighter pilot, but was soon transferred into the industry. In 1945, he was appointed the director of Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he planned the payment of war reparations stipulated by the Soviet Union. Already in this role he was involved in the founding of the Finnish oil industry. In 1955, he was appointed managing director of Neste. The first oil refinery at

Naantali Naantali (; sv, Nådendal) is a town in southwestern Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important tourist centre of the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located in the region of Southwest Finland, west ...

was brought on stream a couple of years after this. Raade and his friend, Prime Minister and from 1956 President of the Republic

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

were responsible for promoting the project; Kekkonen rallied the politicians and Raade took care of relations to industry at home and abroad. In 1959, Raade also became the chairman of the company's board. He acted in both positions until his retirement in 1979. In addition to this post, he was also active in industrial federations and committees and was a member or chairman of the board of 37 corporations. He received the honorary title of

vuorineuvos Vuorineuvos ("mining counselor", literally Finnish for "mountain counselor"; sv, bergsråd) is a Finnish honorary title granted by the President of Finland to leading figures in industry and commerce. The title is honorary and has no responsibili ...

(the highest one awarded to industrialists) in 1962. The former headquarters building of

, now occupied by

Fortum Fortum Oyj is a Finnish state-owned energy company located in Espoo, Finland. In addition to Finland, it focuses on Germany and other countries in Central Europe, Great Britain, Russia and the Nordic region. Fortum operates power plants, inc ...

, is colloquially called ''Raateen hammas'' "Raade's tooth". It was constructed 1973–78 and is still the tallest office building in Finland.

References

Obituary for Uolevi Raade
at

MTV3 MTV3 ( fi, MTV Kolme, sv, MTV Tre) is a Finnish commercial television station. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Yle TV1 (from Yle) took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV (literally "Advertisement ...

1912 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Finnish businesspeople People from Turku Neste people Aalto University alumni Åbo Akademi University alumni {{Finland-bio-stub