Carl-George Crafoord

Carl-George "CG" Wilhelm Crafoord (3 September 1921 – 10 July 2006) was a Swedish diplomat.

Carl-George Crafoord as ambassador in Nairobi in 1969.

Career

Crafoord was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of colonel Casa Crafoord and his wife Elsa (née Kumlin)[1] and brother of the colonel John Crafoord and psychiatrist Clarence Crafoord.[2] He passed his studentexamen in 1940 and served during his mandatory military service for a period during the years 1942 to 1943 at the legation in London as a cryptographist. Crafoord continued as cryptographist at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm during the remainder of the war, alongside his law studies. At age 22 in 1944, he was sent to Åland Islands as deputy consul. Crafoord took a Candidate of Law degree in Stockholm in 1945 and became attache in June 1945 at the Foreign Ministry's press agency.[2]

Crafoord served in Washington, D.C. in 1946, Buenos Aires in 1948 and was second secretary in Buenos Aires in 1950.[1] He also had a sojourn in Santiago as a member of Sweden's delegation to the first meeting with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)[2] before returning to the Foreign Ministry in 1951. Crafoord served at the UN agency of the Foreign Ministry's political department and then with bilateral issues in the trade department.[2] He was then first secretary at the Foreign Ministry in 1953, Tokyo in 1955 and in Seoul in 1959 and was the first secretary at the Foreign Ministry in 1960.[3] Crafoord was then director at the Foreign Ministry in 1962, commercial counsellor in Bonn in 1964, ambassador in Nairobi in 1968, Prague in 1973 and served in the common foreign trade departments at the Foreign Ministry and at the Ministry of Commerce in 1976. He was head of the PA-unit at the Foreign Ministry in 1977, was deputy State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 1978 and ambassador in Madrid from 1980 to 1986.[1]

Crafoord's perhaps greatest efforts was during the periods he served in Stockholm at the trading area where he negotiated textile limitation agreements. Crafoord became over the years an avid Rotarian, and co-founded a Rotary Club in Nairobi as well as in Stockholm. One of his main interests were hunting. Crafoord also came to engage deeply in the case of Karolina Johnsson (daughter of ambassador Lave Johnsson), a Swedish citizen accused of attempting to smuggle heroin from Bangkok.[2] After retiring in 1986, he and his wife Anne lived part of the year in San Pedro de Alcántara, Spain,[1] where he for some years had assignments for different Swedish companies.[2]

Personal life

In 1946 Crafoord married Lena Haegermark, daughter of lieutenant general Harald Haegermark and Aina Tour. He was the father of Carlitos (born 1948), Eva (born 1950), Patrick (born 1953), Cecilia (born 1957) and John (born 1960).[3] In 1969 Crafoord married Anne Hedlund (born 1937), daughter of attorney Knut Hedlund and Anna-Lisa Nilsson.[1] Crafoord died on 10 July 2006 and was buried on 3 September 2006 at Åkers cemetery in Åkers styckebruk.[4]

Bibliography

• Crafoord, Carl-George (2006). Frimärket från Kina: hågkomster från när och fjärran [Stamp from China: recollections from near and far] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Jure. ISBN 91-7223-259-5.

Awards

• Officer of the Order of May[3]
• Commander of the Order of the Sacred Treasure[3]
• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic[5]
• Landstormen' silver medal[3]

References

1. Uddling, Hans; Paabo, Katrin, eds. (1992). Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1993 [Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1993] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. p. 218. ISBN 91-1-914072-X.
2. "Dödsfall - Carl-George Crafoord" [Death - Carl George Crafoord]. Helsingborgs Dagblad (in Swedish). 4 August 2006. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
3. Harnesk, Paul, ed. (1962). Vem är vem? 1, Stor-Stockholm [Who is who? 1, Greater Stockholm] (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Vem är vem. p. 259.
4. "Carl-Georg Wilhelm Crafoord" (in Swedish). Gravar.se. Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
5. "Real Decreto 752/1983, de 21 de marzo, por el que se concede la Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica al señor Carl-George Crafoord". Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 14 April 1983. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-16.

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Carl Gustaf Béve	Ambassador of Sweden to Kenya 1968–1973	Succeeded by Lennart Rydfors
Preceded by Agda Rössel	Ambassador of Sweden to Czechoslovakia 1973–1976	Succeeded by Marc Giron
Preceded by Lennart Petri	Ambassador of Sweden to Spain 1980–1986	Succeeded by Karl-Anders Wollter