Obituary: Guttorm Hanssen

Fugro Oceanor AS is sad to report the untimely death of its Technical Manager, Guttorm Hanssen. He successfully survived heart surgery but succumbed at only 61 to a very rare and fatal neurological disease.  

Guttorm Rudolf Hedley Hanssen was one of the pioneers in the development of the offshore industry in Norway. After being educated in electronics and communication in the navy and gathering valuable experience at remote LORAN-C stations at Jan Mayen and in Greenland, his experience was very much sought after when offshore exploration activities started. He very quickly became one of the industry's key players particularly within the fields of radio systems and communication. Later he specialised in instrumentation and sensor technology where he played a vital role for close to 40 years, in particular within the specialisms of metocean data acquisition and environmental monitoring systems for offshore platforms, where his unique knowledge of these systems and installations proved invaluable from the very beginning.

As his colleague, Jon Arne Silgjerd explains: "Guttorm Hanssen was a very unusual person, with huge technical skills and an interest and zest for his work that is very rare. 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.

"His extraordinary memory also made him a living book of reference for colleagues and for clients. This combined with his vigorous northern humour made him a living legend in the business and provides all who knew him with a great many good stories and quotes that will make him live amongst us for a long time.

"He will be deeply missed by his good friends and colleagues!"