Norway industry pioneer dies

Offshore staff

SANDNES, Norway -- Fugro Oceanor's technical manager, Guttorm Hanssen has died. Hanssen was one of the pioneers of the development of the offshore industry in Norway.

He was educated in electronics and communication in the navy and gathered experience at remote LORAN-C stations at Jan Mayen and in Greenland. He became one of the industry's key players in radio systems and communication and later specialized in instrumentation and sensor technology.

"Guttorm Hanssen was a very unusual person, with huge technical skills and an interest and zest for his work that is very rare," says Jon Arne Silgjerd, a colleague of Hansen's. "This made him a role model for many of his younger colleagues. The companies and the professions he developed are among the market leaders in the world today, and he leaves behind many who were inspired by his enormous skills while we were developing our own.

12/21/2007