Lars Bergstig, former chairman of Föreningen Stockholms Företagsminnen (the founding organization of today’s Centre for Business History) has died. As city council secretary in Stockholm, he was active in developing the idea for an activity that today remains as a sister association to the Centre for Business History.
He took a seat on the interim board that was formed in 1973 and was followed by the regular activities in 1974. The early activities were focused on making available the historical archives of the member companies as an important part of Stockholm’s history and at the same time providing employment for people who were far from the labor market. The business expanded rapidly and created aside archive depots around the Stockholm area.
The economic crisis during the 1990s hit the business hard and forced a reconstruction with a focus on handling the large amounts of stray material from Stockholm companies that no longer exist. In addition to this, the Centre for Business History took care of the archives from active member companies.
Lars, who throughout his working life was involved in Folkpartiet, today’s Liberal Party, had a good eye for the combination of non-profit activities and the historical importance of entrepreneurship and as chairman of the board from 1991-1995 he showed proof of problem solving with his social competence and friendly humor. He is fondly remembered.
