Hans Rasmus Astrup, the former head and owner of Norwegian shipbroker Fearnleys, has died at the age of 82.
The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, which Astrup founded, said he died peacefully.
Astrup was educated as a lawyer before he took over as the fourth generation in his family to lead shipbroking firm Fearnley & Eger Befragtningsforretning, which his great-great-grandfather Thomas Fearnley founded in 1869. He became the sole owner of what is now Fearnleys in 1972.
Today, Fearnleys is part of the wider Astrup Fearnley Group that includes investment bank Fearnley Securities and an offshore shipbroking arm.
It is one of the leading shipbroking firms in Norway.
Astrup, who never married or had children, transferred ownership of Astrup Fearnley Group to the Hans Rasmus Astrup Foundation in 2014, meaning its profits support the art lover's museum and other causes.
Colleagues pay tribute
Astrup Fearnley veteran Tor Widing saw almost all of Astrup's career and remembered him as a business owner with trust in his team, and with a genuine interest in employees despite a certain aristocratic reserve towards the world outside the company.
Widing retired last year as managing director of Fearnleys Offshore Supply after a career that began with the Astrup Fearnley Group in 1973, the year after Astrup took over the former Fearnley & Eger.
Widing told TradeWinds that until three or four years ago, Astrup served on the board of all the Astrup Fearnley companies, including Fearnley Offshore. He was to be seen in the office almost daily. But he had more involvement in management decisions than in relations with customers or in broking as such, and he trusted his managing directors' judgment.
"He always gave us the freedom, together with the chairmen of the boards, to make our own decisions," Widing told TradeWinds. "I often heard him say, 'If you believe this is the right thing, then go ahead with it.'"
The Danish-Norwegian Astrup family name has an elite ring to the Norwegian ear, and is as readily associated with its famous painters and politicians as with shipping and shipowning. The late Fearnleys' owner might be spotted in public at events such as the opening of the Astrup Fearnley Museum at the side of fellow art collector Queen Sonia, but he kept largely out of sight otherwise.
Widing acknowledged that the late Fearnleys owner maintained an aristocratic reserve.
"All his life he kept a very low profile, and you will find very few pictures of Hans Rasmus Astrup," Widing said.
"I tried once to get him to do an interview with TradeWinds for Darrin Griggs when Darrin was covering offshore," Widing said. "But he did not want to appear alongside the other prominent shipping names, the Wilhelmsens or the Fredriksens. He was a very private person except within the company."
The late Astrup Fearnley owner was easy to talk to both in the office and at internal Fearnleys social events.
"He was very easy to cooperate with and to socialise with," Widing said. "He always had a genuine interest in how people were doing."
'End of an era'
Kristian Sorensen worked with Astrup when he was chief executive of Fearnleys from 2016 up to his departure in 2020.
Sorensen, now CEO at Avance Gas, told TradeWinds he felt glad and privileged to have got to know Astrup.
"He was still active in the company, coming into the office several days a week," Sorensen said.
"It's very sad. He was an extremely special person in all ways. He lived a unique life."
Sorensen said Astrup's death is the end of an era for Fearnleys.
"I'd like to pay tribute to him personally," Sorensen.
The executive said one of his special qualities was his ability to build a company and create loyalty and dedication in his employees.
"He was very, very special," Sorensen added.
Astrup founded the art museum in 1993. A leading modern art museum in Scandinavia, it holds his extensive private art collection.
This includes works by Matthew Barney, Paul Chan, Trisha Donnelly, Ida Ekblad and Matias Faldbakken, Jeff Koons and others.
The museum opened in new facilities at Aker Brygge in Oslo.
Astrup Fearnley chief executive Even Matre Ellingsen said in a letter to employees that Astrup's commitment to the business will live on.
"The brokerage business has always been close to Hans Rasmus’s heart and we will continue to develop the firm in his spirit," he said in a message made available to TradeWinds.
Ellingsen underscored that operation and ownership of the group's companies will remain unchanged.
"The purpose of establishing the foundation was to create a solid and robust base for the preservation, development, and support of the Astrup Fearnley Collection and the Astrup Fearnley Museet, as well as for the brokerage businesses for years to come. The businesses will therefore be continued in the future as before," he told staff.
Ellingsen called the departed owner "an important carrier of the corporate culture".
"He was often focusing on the importance of being relevant and future oriented," he wrote.
