Lars-Olov Strandberg

(July 26, 1929 – March 3, 2018)

Lars-Olov Strandberg was a Swedish fan who found fandom in 1956 and was GoH at Interaction, the 2005 Worldcon.

He was a very active club and con-running fan. He was present at the first Swedish sf convention, Luncon in Lund, in August 1956, and attended nearly every later con in Sweden until his death. He was one of the founders of Scandinavian SF Association (SFSF) in 1959, and continously served in its board (as secretary, treasurer, or chairman) from 1965 through 2011. He also served as the first chairman of the Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Foundation after it came into being in the late 1970s. He helped found the SF bookstore in Stockholm.

He was a life-long photographer who documented every convention he visited. He was active in the Stockholm Tolkien Society using the name Theoden. He was also active in the (non-sf-related organization) Nordisk Allians, which had been started by his perhaps closest friend in fandom, Kjell Borgström, and was a key contact person from Swedish fandom to the fandoms in Denmark, Norway, and Great Britain. He was treasurer of the Stockholm in 1976 Worldcon bid.

John-Henri Holmberg described him as "Sweden's combination of E. E. Evans, Howard DeVore, and Forry Ackerman: a soft-spoken, self-effacing man whose devotion without any doubt guaranteed the survival of the SFSF." (Though Strandberg lacked their voracious apetite for collecting.)

In mundane life, Strandberg was the Chief Actuary of the life insurance division of Sweden's largest insurance company, Skandia, and considered virtually irreplaceable: when in 1994 he reached the age of 65, then the obligatory Swedish retirement age, he was contracted by his employer to continue his work on a free-lance basis, but retaining his office and secretary at the corporate headquarters, an arrangement that continued for over five years.

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1984 -- Nasacon 5
• 1999 -- Upsala: 1999 (Swecon)
• 2000 -- Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Award
• 2005 -- Interaction

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Person

1929—2018

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