University of Manitoba Photo: JT
Hannes Kristjánsson, a merchant in Gimli, placed great emphasis on his children’s education. His sons Baldur, Kristján, Albert, Luther, Ragnar and Leó Frímann all completed their doctorates from American universities. Baldur, their eldest, paved the way and became a kind of role model. He received his doctorate in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1949. A good description of his life can be found in VÆÆ IV p. 173-75. It says that in 1941 he got a position with Canada’s Ministry of Agriculture and his job was to study and make plans for irrigation projects and agriculture in Alberta, Canada, but now let’s look at his career as it is described in the aforementioned article: “In 1945 he became a teacher in agricultural economics at the University of Saskatchewan, and a year later a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, where he completed his Ph.D. degree in economics on June 16, 1949. He was the Professor of agricultural economics at the University of North Dakota 1948-56; Director for the Co-operative and Co-operative Banking Division of the Government of Canada’s Department of Agriculture in Ottawa; represented Canada in a five-nation committee in 1958 organized by Harvard University to organize production and business in Iran. He stayed there for another six months and was in charge of the agricultural department of this work. He was appointed in 1959 to be Secretary for the Resources for Tomorrow Conference, which was a conference to study and plan the future use of Canada’s resources. He oversaw this conference and produced a three-volume report on it when it was finished. Following this work came the ARDA (Agricultural and Rehabilitation Development Act) legislation, which aims to increase production and improve the conditions of people in the poorer parts of Canada, and he was one of those who had a hand to its passage. Appointed in 1963 as Deputy Minister in the Canadian Department of Agriculture, he moved to Manitoba the same year and was appointed director of the Manitoba Economic Consultative Board, and later Deputy Director and then President. He was also appointed Director and later as an assistant consultant for the Manitoba Development Authority, both of which aim to increase employment and promote the interests of the state of Manitoba. In 1969, he was hired as an economic consultant to the government of Tanzania in Africa, where he worked on economic planning. When he came back in Nov. 1969, he resumed his post as economic recruiter for the Manitoba State Board. He is a member of a number of committees and associations, mainly those related to agriculture. He was awarded the Government of Canada’s National Celebration Medal in 1967, and Honorary Professor of Agriculture from the University of Manitoba.”
English version by Thor group.