Jon Othar

Jón Óttar Ragnarsson aka Jon Othar (born 8/10/1945) is an acclaimed scientist/author/director from Iceland. He has been instrumental in improving the dietary habits and health of Icelanders. He has also been a major pioneer in reforming the Icelandic broadcasting scene with his involvement in Channel 2-Iceland (Stöð 2). He has written 6 books, two of them bestsellers, hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles and dozens of radio programs. He now works in films as a writer-director and has an international feature film in the works, KILL THE POET, based on the life of the legendary Icelandic poet, Steinn Steinarr. Jon Othar is the son of art patron and book-publisher Ragnar Jonsson (Ragnar í Smára).

Biography

Early life and education

Jon Othar was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. He graduated in Chemical Engineering with a B.Sc. (honours) from University of Edinburgh in 1969 and then switched to Food Science and Nutrition. He got his M.Sc. from M.I.T. in 1971 and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1976.

Nutrition and Health Career

In 1977 he was appointed head of the newly established Nutrition & Food Science program at University of Iceland first as Assistant Professor and later as Associate Professor. Meanwhile, he held the title of head of the Food and Nutrition research division at the Agricultural Research Institute in Reykjavik receiving over $1 million in grants from the Kellogg Foundation for his research. He was also appointed to the newly reformed Icelandic Nutrition Council and placed in charge of the new National Nutrition Survey. Jon Othar has written 25 scientific articles in food science, nutrition and medical journals. He has also written three books on nutrition and health, one of them a bestseller, Næring og heilsa (Nutrition and Health), 1979. He also co-founded the national environmental organization Líf og land (Life and Land) in 1978 and was its president from 1978-1982. Under his leadership the organization held ten national conferences on various environmental issues including Maður og Umhverfi (Man and Environment), 1979.

Jon Othar was the main force behind the first-ever national conference on Lifestyle and Health (Neysluvenjur og Heilsufar) in the spring of 1977 which brought together the nation’s best minds in this wide-ranging field. The conference addressed especially the escalating epidemic of heart disease in Iceland and concluded that dramatic changes in diet and lifestyle were needed to fight it. The conclusions were widely publicized in the local media and led to dramatic changes:
#A B.Sc. Food Science and Nutrition program was established at the University of Iceland.
#The Icelandic Nutrition Council was reorganized. The new council quickly concluded that up-to-date dietary information was the first step and so a new national nutrition survey was stipulated.
#A Food and Nutrition division was established at the Agricultural Research Institute. Its first task was to analyze the macro- and micronutrient content of Icelandic foods.
#In response the local food industry ultimately made myriad of changes to improve its existing products (healthier ingredients, better labeling etc.) and launched hundreds new products and/or healthier versions of older products!
#In the aftermath wide-ranging advances ware made in many other areas of public health such as campaigns to boost sports and exercise programs and campaigns to cut smoking etc.

Time has shown that these efforts were highly effective on almost every level. For example industry and hospitals got better access to highly trained scientists and far more is now known about local dietary habits and the nutritional content of foods etc. Most important, however, is the fact that heart disease mortality dropped dramatically. The numbers show how the mortality for Icelandic males in 1997 was only 34 % of what it was in 1971 and for Icelandic women it is only 26%!

Television, Film & Writing Career

In 1983 Jon Othar was instrumental in organizing the Andrei Tarkosvky Film Festival in Reykjavik bringing the famed Russian film director to Iceland.

In 1986 Jon Othar resigned his academic posts to co-found and manage Scandinavia’s first private television station, Stöð 2, to compete with the state broadcasting channel RÚV. Competition in Iceland was especially hard. RUV was backed by state funds (mandatory license fees) and in addition enjoyed unlimited access to commercial advertising. Under Jon Othar’s leadership the growth of Channel 2 was phenomenal. Within 2 years it had reached ¾th of the homes in the country with more than a half as subscribers. As Icelanders have always loved chess one of the highlights was Channel 2’s hosting of the World Cup Chess in Reykjavik where Garry Kasparov successfully defended his title as world champion against most of the best chess players of the day. For his pioneering work Jon Othar received in 1988 the Scandinavian Marketing award whose prior recipients included Volvo’s Per Gyllenhammer and SAS’s Jan Carlzon.

Between 1994 and 2000 Jon Othar studied creative writing and filmmaking at USC and filmmaking at UCLA. He co-founded the Hollywood Scarefest and is co-owner of the legendary Rocket Video in Los Angeles. Jon Othar has been involved with over 200 television programs (usually as writer, director and producer and frequently as host as well) including health programs and documentaries about dozens of Icelandic and international artists and professionals including French film director Jean-Jacques Annaud, BBC writer-journalist Magnus Magnusson, Nobel Prize winner Halldor Laxness and media mogul Ted Turner. He wrote, directed and co-produced the documentary film “ONE DAY WILL RISE” (Eitt sinn upp skal rísa) about Iceland’s premier modern poet, Steinn Steinarr. He has currently several international feature film projects in development based on his own screenplays including KILL THE POET a suspenseful Romeo and Juliet love story about leading artists in Iceland and New York during World War II.

Awards

*1988: Scandinavian Marketing award

Published Books

As author:1. Næring og heilsa (Nutrition and health). Helgafell. 1979. 2. Strengjabrúður (Marionettes). A novel. Helgafell, 1983. 3. Næring og vinnsla. (Nutrition and Processing). Helgafell. 1984. 4. Á bak við ævintýrið (Behind the Adventure). Iðunn. 1991.5. Bætt heilsa betra líf. Better Health, Better Life. Fróði 1992. 6. Fimmtánda fjölskyldan (The Fifteenth Family). A novel. Iðunn. 1992.

As editor:

Maður og umhverfi (Man and Environment). Lif og land. February 1979. Maður og borg (Man and Metro). Lif og land. June 1979. Maður og list (Man and Art). Lif og land. February 1980. Maður og tré (Man and Tree). Lif og land. March, 1980Maður og hungur (Man and Hunger). Líf og land and the Icelandic Red Cross. October 1980. Maður og trú (Man and Religion). Lif og land. April 1981. Maður og stjórnmál (Man and Politics. Lif og land. June 1982. Maður og vísindi (Man and Science). Lif og land. November 1982.Ísland og friðarumræðan (Iceland and World Peace). Lif og land. October 1983. Þjóð í kreppu (Nation in Crisis), Lif og land. November 1983.

External Sources

#www.imdb.com
#www.skjarinn.is