Olav Thon, widely viewed as one of Norway’s most unconventional billionaires, died over the weekend at the age of 101. The real estate tycoon, hotel owner and philanthropist never really retired, and remarried when he was 95.
Thon’s death on Saturday set off a flood of tributes from other wealthy investors and business owners, top politicians, local officials in the rural area where grew up, and even the prime minister.
“An epoch in Norwegian business life is over, now that Olav Thon has died,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told state broadcaster NRK, which led its national nightly newscast on Saturday with the news of Thon’s death. “Thon was an outstanding businessman who created businesses and jobs both in Norway and abroad, but he was also someone who never forgot his roots in Hallingdal or local communities.”
The mayor of Flå in Hallingdal, the mountain valley where Thon grew up, said he “meant so much” to the small town, not least through all the taxes he paid. Thon often criticized Norway’s controversial annual tax on net worth, but wasn’t among all the wealthy Norwegians who have moved to Switzerland to avoid it. Thon also invested in many major real estate developments in Hallingdal.
He’s best known for his commercial property ventures, large shopping centers and his chain of Thon Hotels. Erna Solberg, former prime minister and head of the Conservative Party, said Norway has lost a major developer of modern Norwegian society. “He started with two empty hands and a sharp mind, and his life story was like a fairy tale,” Solberg said. “There are few Norwegians who have created so many jobs as Olav, and we owe him a big ‘thank you’ for his life’s work.”
Other investors and even rivals of Thon were also paying their respects to the man who was born and grew up in Hallingdal before making his way to Oslo and logging his first profits by selling some animal pelts. That famously launched what became a fur business and then a real estate empire based on his sprawling shopping centers, hotels and restaurants.
“Olav was a role model and a pillar in Norwegian business,” Odd Reitan, founder of the REMA1000 grocery store chain, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN). Reitan hailed Thon’s “unique ability to combine decisiveness and engagement with his down-to-earth and inclusive manner. I’ll miss the many conversations we had, both over the table and on the telephone.”
DN quoted Thon’s wife, former judge Sissel Berdal Haga Thon, as saying that just two weeks ago, Thon was “in full vigor” at a family confirmation party. “He was so clear and loved life,” she said. They’d recently been living at Thon’s Bristol Hotel in Oslo but he died at Ullevål Hospital, where she said he received good care and treatment: “We were holding hands, which we did all the time, Olav heard some nice music and suddenly he was gone. It was very beautiful.”
Thon’s family announced on Monday that his funeral will be held at the Oslo Cathedral on November 27. Several of his hotels including Bristol and Thon Hotel Oepra in Oslo were flying their flags at half-mast this week.
Thon remained chief executive of his large Olav Thon Gruppen until he was 98. He resigned as chairman a year later but continued as a member of the board. “He followed up and commented,” Berdal Haga Thon told DN. “If there was anything that looked a bit expensive, he’d speak up right away.”
Thon never lived the luxurious life that other billionaires often do. He was known for dressing in a mix of colourful if faded clothes and a trademark red wool cap, preferred camping out in the nature to staying in hotels himself and rarely traveled internationally. He was a major contributor to Den Norske Turistforeningen, which runs mountain lodges and cabins all over the country and clears trails to keep wilderness areas accessible. Thon had no children and transferred his fortunes several years ago to a charitable foundation that also aims to keep his business empire intact.
He had his critics, not least those who thought many of his real estate projects marred the landscape. He was charged and sentenced in the 1950s with bribing a customs agent, and some called him a sly fox, but he also had a strong work ethic and was admired by many other capitalists much younger than himself and with much more pretentious lifestyles. Petter Stordalen, who’s built his own fortune on real estate and hotel ventures, called Thon “a pioneer, visionary and a legend in Norwegian business,” and said he was an inspiration for everyone who dreams big.
“Thank you for being the best competitor I ever could have hoped for,” Stordalen told DN. “Rest in peace, Olav.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
