Lars Wilhelm Åberg (19 December 1879 – 21 January 1942) was a Finnish engineer and businessman. He was the General Manager of

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

and co-founder of Suomen Autoteollisuus (SAT).

Early years

Lars Wilhelm Åberg was born in

Hausjärvi Hausjärvi is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Oitti. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Southern Finland and is part of the Tavastia Proper regions of Finland, region. The municipality has ...

to Senior Master Builder, Depot Manager Lars Erik Åberg and Mathilda Maria née Rosvall. He graduated in 1898 in Swedish speaking Helsingfors reallyceum in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, after which he studied engineering in Helsinki Polytechnical Institute. He graduated in 1902 after which he studied for one year in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Career

After his graduation Åberg worked for a number of companies. He became the manager of Helsinki City Electricity Works where he worked until 1918, when he was appointed General Manager of

iron works. Simultaneously, he managed Ab Hämekoski and Ab Karelia Wood. Wärtsilä dived into financial trouble during Åberg's leadership. The annual result of 1925 showed losses of 1.6 million

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

; the company debt reached 46 million marks when the sales were just 16 million. In March 1926 Åberg announced resignation, which came into force in 15. April. He was replaced by

Wilhelm Wahlforss Emil Wilhelm Wahlforss (25 June 1891 – 20 June 1969) was a Finnish engineer, industrialist and vuorineuvos. Early life Wahlforss was born in Helsinki, the capital of Grand Duchy of Finland. His father Henrik Alfred Wahlforss was an apprecia ...

. Later it turned out that Åberg had also hidden a remarkable gap in the inventory.Zilliacus: ''Hänen Kovuutensa.'' p. 324–339. Already starting from 13 March Åberg was appointed the Board Chairman of automobile coach builder Autokoritehdas. Despite its relatively good order book, the company was continuously in lack of cash reserves. The creditors pushed the company to join its operations with its competitor Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri. This took place on 20 March 1931, when Åberg together with Karl Arthur Nordgren and Emil Anton Winckelmann sent to the Ministry of Trade and Industry an application for starting a new company. This was the beginning of

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

producer Suomen Autoteollisuus. Åberg became a minority shareholder in the new company.

Personal life

Åberg was married to Sylvi Helena née Antman. The couple remained childless, and when Åberg died in 1942, he bequeathed a large sum of money to Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in Finland. The academy wrote a glowing obituary about him. When Åberg's successor in Wärtsilä, Wilhelm Wahlforss heard about this, he tried to prevent its publishing fiercely, referring to Åberg's neglectful leadership of the company. The obituary was eventually published, but it took place as late as in 1946.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aberg, Lars Wilhelm 1879 births 1942 deaths Finnish businesspeople Finnish chief executives Helen Oy People from Hausjärvi People from Häme Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Sisu Auto Swedish-speaking Finns Wärtsilä