2019
New Vice Chairman of the board of directors
Following Tommy Thomsen’s appointment as CEO in Lauritzen Fonden, he resigns from the board of directors of Lauritzen Fonden, where he has taken up the position as Vice Chairman. Director Erik G. Hansen is appointed new Vice Chairman.
New CEO in Lauritzen Fonden
Tommy Thomsen is appointed as new CEO in Lauritzen Fonden as of 1 January 2019. He is taking over after Bent Østergaard, who after 49 years in the Lauritzen Group will retire during 2019.
2017
Change of guards in the board of directors
Vice Chairman Michael Fiorini resigns from the board of directors. Tommy Thomsen is appointed Vice Chairman and director Erik G. Hansen joins the board.
2016
Grant strategy approved
The board of directors approve the new grant strategy for Lauritzen Fonden.
New member of the board
CEO in IFU and chairman of the Danish Maritime Fund Tommy Thomsen joins Lauritzen Fonden’s board of directors.
2012
New member of the board
The daughter of Knud Lauritzen, Karen Lauritzen Bay, steps down from her position as member of the board on her 70th birthday. She leaves the seat to Betina Ipsen, Knud Lauritzen’s grandchild.
2011
The Lauritzen Award expands
Four new awards are added to the Lauritzen Award. The Vision, Backstage, Wauw and “Believe in you” Awards.
2009
Jens Ditlev Lauritzen heads Lauritzen Fonden
The great-grandchild of Ditlev Lauritzen – Jens Ditlev Lauritzen – is elected chairman of the Foundation after 10 years as vice chairman and 11 years as President of Lauritzen Bulkers. 2009 is also the year the Foundation changes its name from “JL- Fondet” to “Lauritzen Fonden.”
1993
Lauritzen Award established
Established in 1993 to support the arts, the Lauritzen Award is given each year to an actor and actress for outstanding artistic performances in Danish theatre, TV or films. The original award, “Henkel-prisen,” was established in 1965 and honored only actresses – until the Foundation took ownership of the award 1993 and expanded its scope.
1987
Lauritzen Fonden relocates to Sankt Annæ Plads
The new address in Copenhagen now serves as the home of Lauritzen Fonden, LF Investment ApS and J. Lauritzen A/S.
1945
Lauritzen Fonden established
Lauritzen Fonden (called “JL-Fondet”) is established in 1945 by two brothers, Ivar and Knud Lauritzen, and their sister, Anna Lønberg-Holm, to mark the 50th anniversary of “Dampskibsselskabet Vesterhavet,” the shipping company founded by their father, Ditlev Lauritzen in 1895. Shares in this and other family companies are transferred to the Foundation on the occasion of the anniversary.
1942
Merchant navy school established
At the beginning of the 1940s, J. Lauritzen establishes its own merchant navy school in Kogtved near Svendborg, Denmark. The school is closed in 2008 after a takeover in 2005 by the Maersk Group.
1941
Humanitarian work continues
Support for humanitarian causes is part of the Lauritzen family philosophy. During WWII, the family supports aid to Norway and Finland and the evacuation of Danish Jews to Sweden. The family sets up a shelter for the elderly and an infants’ clinic in Ditlev Lauritzen’s home, and during and after the war, they organise the gathering of windfall fruit, which volunteers make into jam for needy families.
1939
Second training vessel added
In 1939 Ditlev Lauritzen’s sons add yet another training vessel, the Rømø.
1935
Sons take over
When Ditlev Lauritzen dies in 1935, his sons Ivar and Knud Lauritzen take over the family business and manage it jointly until their deaths in 1974 and 1978.
1931
Employee conditions are improved
J. Lauritzen becomes one of the first shipping companies to equip its ships with single and double berth cabins with radio and curtains, hobby rooms, libraries and dental clinics. In port, J. Lauritzen provides bicycles for its seamen and sets up the J. Lauritzen Sports Association for office staff. These activities extend throughout the 1930’s and beyond.
1930
First training vessel added
Ditlev Lauritzen buys a schooner, which he converts into a sail training vessel called the Fanø.
1918
Vesterhavet continues its business expansion
In the years after WWI, Vesterhavet operates in the Baltic and North Sea but gradually extends into the Mediterranean and, in the 1930s, to the Atlantic. Ashore, the company engages in the refrigeration and engineering industry.
1914
J. Lauritzen established
In 1914, Ditlev Lauritzen moves to Copenhagen with his family and sets up the shipping company J. Lauritzen.
1906
Involvement en education begins
The company’s involvement in the education of the young starts in 1906, when Ditlev Lauritzen makes loans to some “diligent young and impecunious” men from Esbjerg and Fanø to complete their studies.
1901
Philanthropic activity begins early
The areas that the Lauritzen Foundation supports are chosen on the basis of longstanding traditions in the family firm. Ditlev Lauritzen had been involved in philanthropic activities from an early age. In 1901 he establishes “Esbjerg Bombebøsse” to support seamen and their widows and orphans.
1895
“Dampskibsselskabet Vesterhavet” established
In 1893 Ditlev Lauritzen is appointed French Consul and gets the nickname “Konsulen”. He begins concentrating seriously on shipping activities and establishes the shipping company “Dampskibsselskabet Vesterhavet” in 1895.
1888
First steamer purchased
Ditlev Lauritzen spots new opportunities in shipping and acquires his first steamship, Uganda, in 1888.
1859
Ditlev Lauritzen born
Ditlev Lauritzen, founder of the shipping companies “Dampskibsselskabet Vesterhavet” and J. Lauritzen, is born in 1859 in Ribe, Denmark. The eldest son of Jørgen Lauritzen, a timber merchant, contractor and shipowner, he trains in his father’s business and in1884 sets up a timber merchant firm in Esbjerg in his father’s name: J. Lauritzen’s Timber Trade.
Ditlev Lauritzen soon becomes one of Esbjerg’s most dynamic businessmen, establishing a large number of trading and manufacturing companies in the following years.
