Ola Thorleif Ruud (6 September 1926 – 25 February 2018) was a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party. He was born in

Ål Ål is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Buskerud Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ål. The par ...

, and moved to

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 ...

to study. He graduated with the cand-.jur. degree in 1951, worked as a deputy judge in Alta, Norway, Alta from 1954 to 1955 before moving back to Ål. Here he opened his own lawyer's office, which he operated until 1997. Ruud was a member of the executive committee of

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

from 1955 to 1959, served as mayor from 1959 to 1967 and was again a member from 1971 to 1975. From 1959 to 1967 and 1975 to 1979 he was also a member of

Buskerud Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

. He chaired the county party chapter from 1961 to 1969. He was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications from 1966 to July 1969 and October 1969 to 1971, during the cabinet Borten. The hiatus came because he ran for general election in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, and incumbent State Secretaries are not eligible for election per the

Norwegian Constitution The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish: ; Norwegian Bokmål: ; Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll. ...

. He never won a seat in a general election, but served as a deputy representative in the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

from Buskerud during the terms 1958–1961, 1961–1965, 1965–1969 and 1969–1973. Ruud chaired the board of directors of Hallingdal Kraftlag from 1981 to 1994, the regional insurance company from 1957 to 1994 and the local savings bank from 1970 to 1983. He was a board member of the local power plant from 1955 to 1975, of

Norwegian Automobile Federation Norwegian Automobile Federation (, NAF) is a Norwegian association of car owners, established in 1924, and member of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; ) is an international organ ...

from 1978–1994 and of Gjensidige.

References

1926 births 2018 deaths Norwegian state secretaries Deputy members of the Storting Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Mayors of places in Buskerud 20th-century Norwegian lawyers People from Ål {{Norway-politician-1920s-stub