Iconic Norwegian shipowner Arne Wilhelmsen has died. He was 90.
He was a founder of Royal Caribbean Cruises and described as a “visionary strategist of the modern cruise industry” by its chairman and chief executive, Richard Fain.
Wilhelmsen is said to have died on Saturday in Palma, Spain. No details were released as to the cause of his death.
Born on 15 June 1929 in Oslo, Wilhelmsen earned his MBA at Harvard Business School and worked as a chartering assistant for Norway's EB Lund & Co and later as a shipbroker in New York.
After joining the family business in 1954, he became its president in 1961.
The scion of a leading Norwegian shipping concern — Anders Wilhelmsen & Co — he spent most of his life in the family business, including an early stint as a deckhand.
He later founded the New York-listed cruise major Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 1969 with the company's first chief executive, Edwin Stephan, who died at 87 last November.
Together with Stephan, “Wilhelmsen saw possibilities for the nascent cruise industry that others did not”, Fain said.
“At a time when the rest of the world thought cruising was a niche use for old transatlantic liners, Arne was already seeing glimmers of the growth that was possible,” the chief executive said.
“He had a vision of the modern cruise industry when the ‘industry’ might have been a dozen used ships, total.”
According to Forbes, Wilhelmsen was worth $1.9bn. He served as a member of the Royal Caribbean Cruises board until 2003, when his son Alex took the seat.
“Arne was a steady presence and source of wisdom on our board for decades,” Fain said.
“Our high standards as a company, our insistence on excellence in operations and design, and our determination to persevere all owe a great deal to the long-term vision of Arne, Alex and the Wilhelmsen family. We salute our friend, and we will miss him dearly.”
Eric Martin contributed to this story.
