Gad Rausing

Rausing was born in Bromma, outside of Stockholm, in 1922 as the eldest son of industrialist Ruben Rausing and his wife Elisabeth (née Varenius). He had two younger brothers, Hans and Sven.

Rausing studied chemistry at the University of Lund and began his career as the head of the research laboratory at Åkerlund & Rausing, his father's company, where he was in charge of the team developing suitable materials for the newly invented tetrahedron package.[http://www.economist.com/node/329074 "Gad Rausing"], The Economist, 3 February 2000 The tetrahedron subsequently became the central product of Tetra Pak, which was founded in 1951 as a subsidiary to Åkerlund & Rausing.[http://www.tetrapak.com/about_tetra_pak/the_company/history/pages/ourhistory.aspx "Our History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212043904/http://www.tetrapak.com/about_tetra_pak/the_company/history/Pages/Ourhistory.aspx |date=12 February 2013 }}, Tetrapak.com, retrieved 8 November 2011

Rausing joined Tetra Pak as deputy managing director in 1954. Over the years the company evolved from a small family business with six full-time employees, in 1954, into a multi-national corporation with over 20,000 employees (2011), a development much of which has been credited to the leadership of Rausing and his brother throughout the 1960s and 1970s.[http://www.tetrapak.com/about_tetra_pak/the_company/facts_and_figures/pages/default.aspx "Company Facts and Figures"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112055705/http://www.tetrapak.com/about_tetra_pak/the_company/facts_and_figures/Pages/default.aspx |date=12 November 2013 }}, Tetrapak.com, retrieved 30 October 2011 The great success of the business was largely the result of their development of aseptic packaging technology, developed in the 1950s and early 1960s and later called the most important food packaging innovation of the 20th century.[http://www.answers.com/topic/tetra-pak-international-s-a Tetra Pak International S.A.] Frederick C. Ingram in The Gale Directory of Company Histories, retrieved 30 October 2011

Rausing had a parallel career as a scholar in pre-historic Scandinavian archaeology and was a reader at the Institute of Archaeology at Lund University.Leander, Lars, Tetra Pak. A Vision Becomes Reality. A company history with a difference, Lund: Tetra Pak International 1996 ({{ISBN|91-630-4789-6}}), p. 30 Asked how he could uphold a position in senior management of a global corporation and do archaeological research at the same time, he stated "a fair number of left-over hours in airports and planes" as his key to finding the time.Idem

Rausing's passion for the humanities led to his frequent sponsorship of various research projects, among others the excavation of the 10th Century Viking trading town of Birka outside Stockholm. Rausing's foundation, The Birgit and Gad Rausing Foundation, awards grants to research within the humanities and supports several important institutions, among others Lund and Oxford universities.[http://www.rausing.org The Birgit and Gad Rausing Foundation] Retrieved 31 October 2011

In 2002, the Gad Rausing Prize for Outstanding Humanistic Research was instituted by Rausing's three children in memory of their father at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, where Gad Rausing was a member during his lifetime.[http://www.vitterhetsakad.se/priser The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities] Retrieved 31 October 2011 Rausing became Doctor Honoris Causa at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1983.[http://www.rausing.org/ The Birgit and Gad Rausing Foundation] Retrieved 31 October 2011

In 2024, the University of Oxford established the Gad Rausing Associate Professorship of Viking Age Archaeology, funded by a gift from Gad's daughter Kirsten. Dr Jane Kershaw was named the inaugeral post-holder.{{cite web |url=https://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/article/gift-enables-oxford-establish-its-first-academic-post-focused-viking-age |title=Gift enables Oxford to establish its first academic post focused on the Viking Age }}{{cite web |url=https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/gad-rausing-associate-professor-of-viking-age-archaeology-fund |title=Gad Rausing Associate Professor of Viking-Age Archaeology Fund }}

The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) library has been renamed as Gad & Birgit Rausing Library to acknowledge the donation provided by the Rausing family to construct the library building.{{YouTube|bZFYkhvuZLA}} Dennis Jönsson, the CEO of Tetra Pak, inaugurated the library on 17 March 2011, noting that the Rausing family funds were utilized for educational purposes and unveiled a plaque commemorating the Rausing family's donation.

Gad Rausing was married to Birgit Rausing and had three children, Finn, Jörn and Kirsten.

File:Sjöräddningskryssare - Gad Rausing.JPG

The Swedish Sea Rescue Society has a class of rescue vessels where the lead ship Gad Rausing was built in 2002 after a large donation from the Tetra Laval group.

{{Reflist}}

• Rausing, Gad, China and Europe: some notes on communications in early times, Lund: Tetra Pak International, 1996
• Rausing, Gad, Prehistoric boats and ships of northwestern Europe: some reflections, Malmö: Liber Förlag/Gleerup, 1984
• Rausing, Gad, Ecology, economy and man, Malmö: Liber Läromedel/Gleerup, 1981
• Rausing, Gad, The bow: some notes on its origin and development, Lund: Gleerups, 1967
• Rausing, Gad, Lars Lawskis vapensamling, Norrköping: Norrköpings museum, 1960

• [http://www.tetrapak.com Tetra Pak Homepage]
• [http://www.rausing.org The Birgit and Gad Rausing Foundation]
• [http://www.vitterhetsakad.se The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquity]

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Category:1922 births

Category:2000 deaths

Category:Lund University alumni

Category:20th-century Swedish businesspeople

Gad

Category:Swedish industrialists

Category:Businesspeople from Stockholm