Reidar Thomassen (18 June 1936 – 13 February 2024), known by the pseudonym Richard Macker, was a Norwegian writer.

Biography

Reidar Thomassen was born in

Harstad Harstad may refer to: Places *Harstad (town) Harstad (; ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Harstad Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is also the administrative centre of Harstad Municipality. The city has a populati ...

as a son of Lieutenant Colonel Haakon Ivar Thomassen (1895–1982) and nurse Edith Mack (1905–94). The family also lived in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

and

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

in Thomassen's youth. From 1964 to 1979 he was married to teacher Inger Sofie Lund. He resided in

Bærum Municipality Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). The administr ...

. Thomassen finished his secondary education in Narvik in 1956, took military training in Harstad and studied at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

. He graduated with the cand.real. degree in geography in 1964. He worked as az teacher from 1965 to 1972 and editor from 1972 to 1985, among others for the magazine ''Teknisk Presse''. In 1985 he took up writing full-time. His debut novel was ''Konfrontasjonen'' (1969). Other memorable novels include ''Den tredje utvei'' (1970), ''Seminaret'' (1976) and ''Nina Ewert'' (2000). As a crime writer he used the pseudonym Richard Macker; his crime debut was ''Mange om liket'' (1974). He has also written hundreds of crime short stories, and in 2003 he became the first Norwegian contributor to ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fic ...

''. He was the screenwriter for the three television series ''Farlig yrke'' (1976), ''Solospill'' (1977) and ''Saken Ruth Vang'' (1981). He wrote one children's book and two textbooks on

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

. Thomassen was also an active

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er. His club was

IL Tyrving Idrettslaget Tyrving is a Norwegian sports club from Bærum, founded in 1922. It has sections for athletics and orienteering. It is named after Tyrfing in Norse mythology. IL Tyrving uses the stadium Nadderud stadion, and hosts the annual ''Tyrv ...

, and his personal best throw as a young athlete was 63.31 metres in 1959. Thomassen died on 13 February 2024, at the age of 87.Reidar Thomassen er død

References

1936 births 2024 deaths People from Harstad University of Oslo alumni Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian screenwriters 20th-century Norwegian novelists 21st-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian male short story writers Norwegian male javelin throwers Writers from Bærum 20th-century Norwegian short story writers 21st-century Norwegian short story writers 20th-century Norwegian male writers 21st-century Norwegian male writers 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen {{Norway-novelist-stub