Rune Gerhardson, former Oslo city council chairman and prominent Labor politician, died Saturday.
The family informs NTB. He is 75 years old.
In 2019, Rune Gerhardson told the public that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It was only a few weeks before he held his last city council meeting – 30 years after his debut as an elected official in Oslo.
You should not clap your hands and drink beer when you receive such a diagnosis, Gerhardson told Uptonposten in September 2019.
On Saturday, he died in Northamptonshire with his close family.
1 in 10Photo: Derje Pringidal, VG
– A great loss
– The Oslo Workers’ Party receives the announcement of the death of Rune Gerhardson with great sadness. We will lose Rune, his commitment and mood. Frod Jacobson, leader of the Labor Party in Oslo, tells Viji that for more than forty years, he has left his mark on the Oslo Labor Party in key positions and at all levels.
Jacobson describes Gerhardson as innovative in the way he conducted politics.
– I would like to emphasize in particular that in 1991 he had a bonding collaboration with SV. Jacobson says this is the first time the Labor Party has ruled alongside other parties.
– I think this was an important prerequisite for later government cooperation with other parties. Rune will be the best in the Oslo Labor Party. What he is missing now would be a huge loss.
Fearless and innovative
The Jonas Care Store released a Facebook post after learning that Gerhardson had passed away.
– Rune grew up in the labor movement and burned for it. He was fearless and innovative. Ideological but practical. He always went straight to the point and was a clear politician, Store writes.
In the post, Store Rune Gerhardson and family openly praise the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
– It means a lot to many families who are in the same situation.
– Our thoughts go to his wife Mai, daughters Marte and Mina and all the grandchildren.
Inspiring leader
Through his adviser, former Labor leader Jens Stoltenberg writes to the VG that the labor movement has lost an important voice and an inspiring leader.
– Rune was the leader of the AUF when I joined the AUF, then he became a friend and colleague, writes Stoltenberg, who is today the leader of NATO.
Stortenberg writes that until recently Gerhardson used his position to create greater transparency for our community.
– I will miss him and will remember both his contribution to the public debate and his good mood.
Raymond Johansson, the city councilor in Oslo, writes to Viji that he received the news of his death with great sadness.
– He was a significant leader in the labor movement, and after many years of bourgeois rule in Oslo, S.V.
Johansson recalled his former colleague as a funny leader.
– Practical jokes seemed to be his trademark and unarmed, compromising and resolving situations. My thoughts go to his family and friends today.
Compassion in the Norwegian language
Rune Gerhardson was a member of the Oslo City Council from 1988-1999, again from 2003-2019. He was a municipal councilor from 1988 to 1991, and in 1992 he was elected mayor.
From 1992 to 1995, he chaired the Cooperation Council with the Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party. After the 1995 election, SV stepped down, and Rune Gerhardsson served as chairman of the Minority City Council until his fall in 1997.
Gerhardson was a city council candidate in 2003 and 2007, but lost by a narrow margin. In the 2011 municipal elections, he was the Labor Party’s mayoral candidate in Oslo.
When he published the book “Kindness in Norway” in 1991 he drew attention to his own line, in which he settled with certain parts of the welfare state and he believed in denying claims to immigrants.
Most of what I brought up has become political, Gerhardson said in an Uptonboston interview in 2019.
Ainar and Verna
It is safe to say that Rune Gerhardson got into politics with breastfeeding. He was the son of longtime Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen and Verna Julie Goren Christie, who was active in Oslo politics.
Rune Gerhardson was born in Oslo in 1946, a year after his father Ainar
Since they were captured. Einar Gerhardson Rune was the leader of the Norwegian Labor Party until the age of 19 and was in the majority these years.
Crowe’s advisor
Rune Gerhardsson was elected head of the Orbiternes Atomospilking (AUF) in 1969. He was AUF President for the last two years until 1975.
After completing his socio-economic degree, he worked as a consultant in the Ministry of Transport and as an economist at the LO, before fully returning to politics – first as an adviser to Crow Harlem Friendland and then to LO President Dor Holvorson.
Rune Gerhardson was president of the Norwegian Skating Federation from 1986-1990 and 2013-2017.
He married Dow Strand for many years. They have two daughters, Marte Gerhardson and Mina Gerhardson.
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