Johan Carl Kempe (8 December 1884 – 8 July 1967) was the leader of the Swedish

pulp and paper industry The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products. Manufacturing process In the manufacturing process, pulp is intr ...

Mo och Domsjö AB (now Holmen Group) and was involved in several other companies in the large economic sphere of the Kempe family. He was also a silver medalist in tennis at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

.Carl Kempe
Swedish Olympic Committee

Biography

Carl Kempe was born at Jakobs församling in

, Sweden. He was the son of industrialist Frans Kempe (1847-1924) and Eva Charlotta Kempe ( Treffenberg). He finished secondary school at Norra Latin in Stockholm, studied at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

1903–1905 and started to work for Mo och Domsjö in 1906. His father had been employed by the family company since 1875, became its managing director in 1884 and chairman of the board in 1908. During this period, the company expanded sharply and acquired other operations with sawmills and forest land. In 1903, the first pulp factory Mo och Domsjö opened in at Domsjö in

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (; ), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in th ...

. During the first decades of the 20th century, pulp mills were established in Hörnefors and

Husum Husum (, ) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of the annual i ...

. Carl Kempe studied abroad and followed his father on business trips to foreign countries. He succeeded his father as CEO of Mo och Domsjö in 1917. The company he took over from his father had retained many traits of a traditional

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

producer. During the 1920s, technical advances in the wood industry had begun and were carried out on a large scale. Chemical laboratories were established and extensive wood research was initiated. Through large investments in research and development, Carl Kempe was chiefly responsible for its transformation into a modern

chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, the chemical industry converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, ...

. Kempe himself claimed that he spent his time at university in Uppsala mostly playing tennis, attending dancing lessons and playing cards; the first of these pastimes, at least, led to his winning a

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

silver medal at the

in the men's indoor doubles event together with Gunnar Setterwall (1881-1928). Ekolsund 2

In 1917, Carl Kempe bought Ekolsund Manor at

Enköping Municipality Enköping Municipality () is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Enköping. The present municipality consists of nearly forty original local government units. They were grouped into greater ...

in Uppsala County. During the period 1928–1930, he had the southern lane restored and modernized according to drawings by actor, art director and architect Vilhelm Bryde (1888-1974). The estate was used as a residence for his family. He had shown an interest in Chinese art since the 1920s and filled the manor house with Chinese artifacts. Shortly before his death in 1967, Kempe left Ekolsund to the daughters of his second marriage.

Personal life

Carl Kempe married Helfrid Ingeborg Margareta Hammarberg (1885-1975) in 1919. He was married in 1934 to Aagot Marianne Axell. He was the father of five children in his first marriage and two in the second. He died in 1967 at Enköping in

Uppsala County Uppsala County () is a county or '' län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, and the Baltic Sea. Province The nor ...

References

Bibliography

*Gunnar Unger, "Kempe, Johan Carl", ''Svenskt biografiskt lexikon'', Vol. 21 (1975–1977), pp. 58–60External links
Holmen Group website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempe, Carl 1884 births 1967 deaths Businesspeople from Stockholm 20th-century Swedish businesspeople Swedish industrialists Tennis players from Stockholm Swedish male tennis players Olympic tennis players for Sweden Tennis players at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists for Sweden in tennis Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

Bibliography