Rasmus Otto Mønsted (23 November 1838 - 4 September 1916) was an

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

and

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a Spread (food), spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The ...

manufacturer from Denmark. Born at the rural family manor of Lyngsbækgård on Mols near Ebeltoft, Otto Mønsted became a wholesaler of butter, grain and feed in the town of

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

in 1865 after some trading experience in Grenå,

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. In 1876, he founded a large business exporting

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

in hermetically sealed containers to places like England, China and Africa. Although the butter company was successful, he diversified into manufacturing

, and in 1883 opened the first margarine factory in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He followed five years later with a factory in Godley, near Manchester, England, and in 1894 he built a vast margarine works in Southall, London. Mønsteds butter company was renamed to Otto Mønsted Aarhus in 1909 - usually just shortened to OMA - and the OMA margarine brand became very familiar in Denmark, as he introduced innovative marketing techniques for his time. He also tried to gain a foothold on the Russian market with margarine, but lost a great deal of money as a consequence of

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 ...

and the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. In Aarhus, he was very active in the city's economic life and was a member of the city council from 1885 to 1891. He led the establishing of the first local telephone company of Århus Telefonselskab and donated a large sum of money to the establishment of Aarhus Theatre and financed the interior artistic decorations as well. Mønsteds' contributions was not limited to the town of Aarhus though and he was made a Knight of the Dannebrog. He built himself a villa in 1896-97, Kristianiagade 5 in

, designed by the architect Vilhelm Dahlerup. The building is now the Russian Embassy. When Mønsted died, he was one of Denmark's richest men. The Otto Mønsted Foundation was created, which contributes to the development of the Danish business community. In 1956, the Otto Mønsteds College in Valby was endowed.

References

Sources

* Jesper Strandskov, Peter Sørensen & Kurt Pedersen, Otto Mønsted : sig navnet -, Systime, 1998. * Jesper Strandskov, et al.: "''Otto Mønsted and the early margarine industry: alliance capitalism a century ago''". The Scandinavian economic history review, Vol. 48, nr. 3 (2000) 0358-5522, p. 57-71 * Danmarkshistorien.dk
Otto Mønsted (1839-1916)
Aarhus University * Aarhus Municipality: "
Rasmus Otto Mønsted
'" Mayors department (30 August 2012)

External links

* http://hydonian.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/otto-monsted.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Monsted, Otto 1838 births 1916 deaths Danish food industry businesspeople 19th-century Danish businesspeople 20th-century Danish businesspeople People from Ebeltoft Danish philanthropists Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog 19th-century philanthropists Burials at Vestre Cemetery, Copenhagen