Odd Gleditsch Sr. (2 October 1894 – 17 January 1990) was a Norwegian entrepreneur and 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 List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...
in
Vestfold
Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...
, 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 (given name), Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena, and Helen (given name), Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004.
People named Ellen include:
* Elle ...
,
Kristian and
Henry Gleditsch, and a first cousin once removed of
Kristen Gran Gleditsch and
Jens Gran Gleditsch.
He was the second cousin of
Ellen Gleditsch,
radiochemist and Norway's second female professor and
Kristian Gleditsch.
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
A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales.
Terminology
The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...
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 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...
.[ Whaling was the foremost business in his hometown Sandefjord. However, during ]World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
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. The factory had gone bankrupt in 1925, but was now resurrected under the name Jotun Kemiske Fabrik.[
In 1931, ]chemical engineer
A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...
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 coating 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 (; ), known as the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, was a constitutional monarchy in North Africa that came into existence upon independence on 24 December 1951 and lasted until a bloodless coup d'état on 1 Sept ...
in 1962 and Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
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.][
]
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