Product Code Database
Sverre Munthe-Kaas Munck (5 July 1898 – 26 January 1970) was a Norwegian businessperson.
In 1924 he founded his own company, which came to be known as Sverre Munck Elektro-Mekanisk Industri. After a time of struggle, the company profited from the upward economic cycles of the late 1930s and the post-World War II period. The main products were cranes, and tackles, but also and . The company had production facilities in Bergen, Fusa, Bøvågen, Hamar, and Langesund, and also expanded abroad.
Munck's own political views has been described as idiosyncratic. He was a supporter of politician Bertrand Dybwad Brochmann during the 1930s. He was an opponent of national socialism, but also socialism and trade unionism. He was a strong proponent of individual "spiritual" development, and of a "quality democracy" instead of a "mass democracy". Norsk biografisk leksikon notes that "often, he was not understood" as a public debater.
Similarly, his takeover of Libertas was not regarded well by everyone. The editor-in-chief who replaced Engen shortly before Munck's takeover, Christian leader Per Voksø, resigned with immediate effect in March 1967. Much of the staff followed. After a stint with Gunnar Kristiansen as acting editor-in-chief, Munck took over as editor, and sat until 1969. He was succeeded by Leif Husebye, sports editor who had remained with the newspaper during the 1967 tumults. Munck continued as newspaper owner, but died in January 1970 in Oslo. Morgenposten suffered from a downward trend, and ultimately went defunct in 1971.
Later career
In 1946 Munck passed down the management of the company to his sons. He continued as chairman of the board. He was a local chairman and national board member of the Norwegian Engineer Association. In 1967 he bought the newspaper Morgenposten, which until then had been owned by the semi-secret libertarian organization Libertas. During Libertas' ownership, the former editor-in-chief Asbjørn Engen had reportedly "politicized" the formerly "apolitical" newspaper.
|
|
