Pehr G. Gyllenhammar

Gyllenhammar was born in Gothenburg, Sweden to a Jewish family. He is the son of Pehr Gyllenhammar Sr. and Aina (née Kaplan).[4] He did his military service at Bohuslän Regiment (I 17) in Uddevalla from 1954 to 1955 and became a sergeant.[5] Gyllenhammar graduated from Lund University with a degree in law in 1959 and did internship at law firms in Sweden and studied maritime law in the United States and then aspects of Industrialism at the Centre d’Etudes Industrielles in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968.[4][6]

He was employed at the insurance company Amphion AB in Gothenburg from 1961 to 1964 and became Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of Skandia Group in 1965. Gyllenhammar became Deputy CEO in 1968 in 1970 he replaced his father, Pehr Gyllenhammar Sr., as CEO.[4] After only a few months he moved to Volvo where he became the CEO in 1971. He replaced his father-in-law Gunnar Engellau, who became chairman, in that position.

He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1974, honorary member of Gothenburg nation at Lund University in 1975 and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of Gothenburg in 1981.[4] Gyllenhammar also conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology at Brunel University London, England in 1987, the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering at the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Canada in 1988, the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki in 1990, the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law at the University of Vermont, USA, in 1993, and the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Economics at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg in 2003.[6][9][12] He is also a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.[13] Gyllenhammar became an Honorary Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple in London in 2001.[12]

Gyllenhammar has in the past been an outspoken supporter of the Liberal People's Party. In his 1973 book I Believe in Sweden (Jag tror på Sverige) he was steadfast in his support for the Scandinavian model and argued for the kind social liberalism the Liberal People's Party used to support. Gyllenhammar served on the Party board and was widely considered as a future leader of the party. At times, he revealed an ambition to become Prime Minister of Sweden.

Gyllenhammar was married 1959–2008 to Christina Engellau (1936-2008),[1] the daughter of Volvo CEO Gunnar Engellau and Margit (née Höckert).[4] They had three daughters and one son: Cecilia, Charlotte, Sophie, and Oscar. He married the horse sports journalist Christel Behrmann in 2010. They divorced in 2012. In April 2013 he married the British-Canadian doctor of psychology, Lee Welton Croll. Their first child was born in 2016.[1]

• Cecilia Gyllenhammar, his oldest daughter, who grew up as the "Princess of Göteborg", has written a novel about the childhood of an upper class girl, the daughter of a business man in Göteborg, marked by eating disorder and self-disgust. The novel is strongly critical towards Cecilia's upper-class background and, she admits, contains critic of both her parents but also purely fictional elements. In the novel, the father is described as constantly unfaithful and the mother as failing to love her daughter. Cecilia refuses to give any detail of what is purely fiction in the novel, but claims both her parents have read it and supports her. Cecilia gave up a career as a journalist and has chosen not to make a career because of those of her parents.[14]
• Charlotte Gyllenhammar, a younger daughter, is a well-established artist with numerous exhibitions, public art commissions, and representation at various museums in Sweden.[15][16]
• Sophie Gyllenhammar Mattson worked as a consultant before embarking a successful career as a designer of gold and jewels and has established her own brand "Sophie by Sophie".[17]
• Oscar Gyllenhammar was working for Icon Medialab before starting his own IT company Compost in 2000 and has since made a failed attempt to start an internet portal (autoo.se) "together with some friends".[18][19]

• H. M. The King's Medal, 12th size gold (silver-gilt) medal worn around the neck on the Order of the Seraphim ribbon (1981)[20]
• Commander First Class of the Order of Vasa (1973)
• Commander First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1986; Commander 1977)
• Commander of the Order of St. Olav (1984)
• Commander of the Order of Leopold (1989)
• Commander of the Legion of Honour (1987)[12]
• Commander of the National Order of Merit (1980)[12]