- William Martin Nygaard
William Martin Nygaard (6 February 1865 – 1952) was a Norwegian
publisher andpolitician .Nygaard was born in
Kristiansand as the son of school principal Marius Nygaard (1838-1912) and his wife Elisabeth "Elise" Martin (1842-1923) [http://www.nsd.uib.no/polsys/index.cfm?urlname=polsys&lan=&MenuItem=N1_1&ChildItem=&State=collapse&UttakNr=33&person=12216 William Martin Nygaard] — Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) ] and brother of Kristen Brunfeldt Nygaard and Finn Nygaard. He married to Constance Wiel, and the couple had seven children, among themMads Wiel Nygaard and Andreas Melchior Wiel Nygaard, grandfather ofWilliam Nygaard . In 1894 he bought Drammensveien 99 and moved in with his family. [ [http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?s] ] It is in the garden outside Drammensveien 99 the annual
garden party ofAschehoug takes place each summer.Publisher
He was employed in H. Aschehoug & Co's bookstore in Kristiania in 1887.b] Together with Thorstein Lambrechts he bought in 1888 both the bookstore and the publishing house, and in 1900 he became the sole
proprietor of the publishing house, and changed the name of the company to "H. Aschehoug & Co (W. Nygaard)". He was chief publisher (CEO) of the publishing house until 1940 when his son Mads Wiel Nygaard took over as CEO and he continued as chairman of the board.In 1895 William Nygaard initiated the founding of the
Norwegian Publishers Association , serving as chairman from 1895 to 1922 and 1925 to 1929.c]Politician
William Nygaard was a member of the Kristiania city council from 1908 to 1919. In 1910 he was one of the founders of the political party
Liberal Left Party , chairing the local chapter in Kristiania until 1916. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament for the term 1922–1924, representing the constituency Kristiania. He served only one term.d]He was also a member of the board of Oslo City Museum (1902-1922), the
Norwegian Booksellers Association (1905-1918), Saugbrugsforeningen (1914-1932),Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse (1917-1922),Nationaltheatret (1922-1923),Vinmonopolet (1929-1932) and the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.e]References
*
Erik Rudeng : "William Nygaard: 1865-1952" (Aschehoug , Oslo, 1997) ISBN 82-03-26111-6
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