Svein Erik Bakke (11 June 1947 – 21 November 2006) was a Norwegian

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

. Bakke was born at

Sørum Sørum was a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Sørumsand. Sørum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see ...

Romerike Romerike is a traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Viken municipalities Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen and Aurskog-Høland in the southern end (Nedre Romerike), ...

, Norway. He began building his fortune by cleaning as a seventeen-year-old. Earning the nickname ''Vaske-Bakke'' (Washing-Bakke), he went on to found the cleaning and laundry company ''Viking-gruppen'' (The Viking Group), which reached a total of 750 employees. After suffering a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, leading to a suicide attempt on 23 December 2001, Bakke sold his company. Later he put his fortune into property development in

Trysil Trysil is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Innbygda. Other villages in the municipality include Nybergsund, Øs ...

as a winter sports venue. He was also working with developing tourist resorts in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Bakke was found dead in his apartment in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

on Tuesday, 21 November 2006 having taken his own life. Bakke who was divorced left his fiancée, Kajsa Lundgaard. His two children from a former marriage, Siv Rivenes Bakke and Ulf Bakke, inherited his business interests.

References

External links

Obituary on dn.no
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakke, Svein Erik 1947 births 2006 deaths People from Sørum Norwegian company founders Suicides in Norway 2006 suicides