Karl-Anders Ingvar Wollter (7 May 1927 – 3 April 2017) was a Swedish

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

Early life

Wollter was born on 7 May 1927 in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

, Sweden, the son of Kjell Wollter, an editor, and his wife Elsa (née Ekwall). He was brother of actor

Sven Wollter Sven Justus Fredrik Wollter (11 January 1934 – 10 November 2020) was a Swedish actor, writer, and political activist. Wollter is one of the most renowned Swedish actors, he was awarded Best Swedish actor twice. In his native country, he becam ...

. He grew up on Solhöjdsgatan in

Långedrag Långedrag () is a district in Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. After his mandatory military service Wollter got a US scholarship and took a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1949. He was then an employee of

SKF AB SKF (, 'Swedish Ball Bearing Factory') is a Swedish bearing (mechanical), bearing and seal (mechanical), seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication an ...

from 1949 to 1951 before he received a

Candidate of Law Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

degree from

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

in 1955.

Career

Wollter became an attaché at the

Ministry for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral rela ...

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 ...

in 1955 and served in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

in 1956,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

in 1957,

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

in 1959, at the Foreign Ministry in 1960, in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

in 1961, at the Foreign Ministry again in 1963 and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1966. Wollter became embassy counsellor in Moscow in 1970 and served as consul general in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1972 and served at the Foreign Ministry in 1972. He was deputy director at the Foreign Ministry in 1972 and deputy director-general in 1973. Wollter then became Swedish ambassador in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

and

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

in 1974, also accredited in

Porto-Novo , , ; ; ; also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Benin, second-largest city of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. In 1863, following Bri ...

and

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

from 1976. He became ambassador in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

in 1977 and there he was involved in the case of the missing

Dagmar Hagelin Dagmar Hagelin (29 September 1959 - disappeared on 27 January 1977) was a 17-year-old Swedish-Argentine girl who disappeared during the Dirty War on 27 January 1977, and is presumed to have been arrested by security forces in El Palomar, Buenos A ...

. Wollter became ambassador in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in 1980 and was available to the Foreign Minister in 1985. Wollter became after that ambassador in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1986 and was finally ambassador in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

from 1989 to 1992 prior to his retirement. He was Sweden's negotiating leader in various bilateral trade negotiations from 1972 to 1974 as well as expert at the delegation of the 40th General Assembly of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in 1985.

Personal life

Wollter was married between 1955 and 1960 to the ambassador Margareta Hegardt, the daughter of the judge Carl Hegardt and Blenda (née Koch). He married for the second time in 1961 to Ulla Ekwall (born 1939), in the Swedish church in Oslo. Together they have the children Anders (born 1965 in Gothenburg), Michael (born 1962 in Monrovia), Sven (born 1963 in Monrovia), Maria (born 1966 in

) and Kristina (born in 1979 in Buenos Aires). His grandson is actor

Christopher Wollter Claes Brian Christopher Wollter (born 5 February 1972) is a Swedish actor and singer. He has had roles in the Swedish productions of ''West Side Story'' and ''Miss Saigon''. He has also appeared in several television productions. Early life Wol ...

Death

Wollter died on 3 April 2017 and was buried at

Sundbyberg Sundbyberg Municipality ( or ''Sundbybergs stad'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, just north of the capital Stockholm. Sundbyberg is wholly within the Stockholm urban area and has a 100% urban population. Sundbybe ...

's cemetery on 22 February 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wollter, Karl-Anders 1927 births 2017 deaths Ambassadors of Sweden to Nigeria Ambassadors of Sweden to Ghana Ambassadors of Sweden to Benin Ambassadors of Sweden to Niger Ambassadors of Sweden to Burkina Faso Ambassadors of Sweden to Argentina Ambassadors of Sweden to Mexico Ambassadors of Sweden to Spain Ambassadors of Sweden to Greece Diplomats from Lund Lund University alumni