10/02/2005
It is with great sadness that Stralfors today announces the death of Göthe Parkander, former Chairman of the Board and CEO.
Göthe Parkander was born in 1924 and started work at Stralfors in 1948. The company, then a small commercial printing works, had been founded in 1919 by the man who was later to become Göthe’s father-in-law. In 1953 Göthe Parkander was appointed manager of the company, and only three years afterwards invested the company’s future in the production of punch cards, boldly going head to head in stiff competition with IBM. This initiative marked the turning point for Stralfors, which at the time had just 12 employees and annual sales of SEK 260,000. Over the years, the company gradually developed, establishing itself in a number of countries. In 1984 Stralfors shares were listed for the first time on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Today the company has sales of SEK 3 billion and employs approximately 1,700 people in twelve countries.
Göthe Parkander, who has sat on the Stralfors Board of Directors since 1955, was elected Chairman in 1993, a position that he held until the Annual General Meeting in 2004. After 51 active years with the company, 46 of them as senior manager, he resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer in 1999.
During his years at the helm of Stralfors, Göthe Parkander received numerous awards. Among them was the “Businessman of the Year” award from Företagarförbundet (The Swedish Association of Businessmen and Businesswomen) in 1985 and the Albert Bonnier Prize for “Businessman of the Year” in 1988. In 1989 he was voted “Personality of the Year” in the county of Kronoberg, and in 1993 he received the annual award from the Swedish Foundation for the Promotion of the Graphic Industry. In 2004, the year he celebrated his 80th birthday, Göthe Parkander received H M the King of Sweden’s medal, 12th class with bright blue ribbon, for his long-term success as an entrepreneur and a business executive.
To mark his 80th birthday the Board of Stralfors instituted “The Göthe Parkander Prize” to be awarded each year to enterprising individuals in the municipality of Ljungby who have demonstrated entrepreneurial skills and whose efforts have created employment opportunities and growth.
As a manager Göthe Parkander was an excellent coach, always ready to take responsibility. The fact that he seemed so fearless and was always so ready to take bold new initiatives probably owes much to his outstanding ability to read future trends. He was a true visionary, and it is, to a great degree, thanks to him and the unique qualities that he possessed that a little local printing works has developed into the international group that Stralfors has become today.
Ljungby, Sweden – 10 February2005
Åke Fredriksson
Chairman of the Board