Dr Rögnvaldur Ólafsson passed away recently; he was one of the people who had the greatest influence on the formation and development of the Þingeyinga Knowledge Network. Rögnvaldur served on the board of the Þingeyinga Knowledge Network from its foundation until his death. Through his work at the University of Iceland, he also had a direct and indirect influence on the activities of partner institutions at STÉTTIN in Húsavík, such as the University of Iceland Research Centre and the Nature Centre of North-East Iceland.
Ragnar had a significant impact on innovation in Icelandic industry through the introduction of digital technology in collaboration with the Húsavík Fish Processing Association and other fish processing companies. This collaboration led, as many are aware, to the establishment of Marel hf.
The management of the North East Knowledge Network accompanied Rögnvaldur on his final journey from Neskirkja. The board and staff of the Knowledge Network and its affiliated institutions extend their condolences to Rögnvaldur's family.
[Photos: from Rögnvaldur's meeting with the Minister of Higher Education and Innovation and colleagues from the Marels years in Húsavík at STÉTTINNI in Húsavík in September 2022.]
Óli Halldórsson, director of the Knowledge Network, wrote some words of remembrance in Morgunblaðið about Rögnvald, which are published below:
Ragnar Olafsson
Memory
It was one of the biggest mobile phones I had ever seen. One of those with a pull-out aerial. Rögnvaldur Ólafsson held the handset to his ear as he stood on the pavement at Hlemmur over two decades ago. He was waiting for the two of us, my friend Linda and me, as we intended to deliver a message of good tidings about developing the knowledge infrastructure in our home town. We grinned, thinking this grown-up university man with the big phone was probably a bit old-school. That assessment could not have been more wrong. We soon discovered, of course, that Rögnvaldur had been instrumental in computerising Iceland and possessed a deeper knowledge of digital development than any young person. Rögnvaldur knew that this kind of advancement isn't about perfectly good things becoming completely obsolete the moment something new comes onto the market. Perhaps this was one reason why pieces of garden hose could be found in the prototypes of other revolutionary computer scales that Rögnvaldur helped to develop in the early days of Marel. Of the three who stood in a huddle at Hlemmur back in the day, it was Rögnvaldur who was the clever one. Not the big phone or the interviewees.
Our meeting with Rögnvaldur at Hlemmur was pivotal in my life. Much happened quietly in the aftermath of that first encounter which, in hindsight, could have gone another way. Rögnvaldur's understanding, support and influence set things in motion. Heads were turned where it mattered. Rögnvaldur had a particular gift for seeing the world not just from the narrow perspective we are so accustomed to. He listened equally to young and old, to working people and scientists. This was a common thread in all of Rögnvaldur's approaches.
Ragnar and I were decades apart in age, but we developed a close working relationship that gradually extended beyond work to the more human aspects of life. We had countless conversations at all hours of the day and night, and through the seasons. Conversations about the future and our ideas at the time, about societies and souls, sorrows and triumphs. About what was needed, when it was needed. Rögnvaldur Ólafsson was an influencer in the truest sense of the word. Not just on the lives of his own people, or on my life and my own. But on the lives of many, and far and wide. On livelihoods and communities. On settlements and revolutions.
With sincere gratitude for our time together, for his advice and his deeds, I offer my final farewell to my friend, Rögnvaldur. At the same time, I extend my deepest condolences to Sigríður and the entire family, on behalf of myself, his colleagues and friends, and the board of the Thingeyrar Network and its partner organisations at Stéttin in Húsavík.
Óli Halldórsson, Húsavík