Memorial services held for V. Norskov Olsen, PhD, TheolD, former president
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| .Dr. V. Norskov Olsen |
Memorial services for former Loma Linda University president V. Norskov Olsen, PhD, TheolD, were held December 12 at the University Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda. Dr. Olsen died November 19 following a heart attack.
Dr. Olsen, who was president of Loma Linda University from 1974 to 1984, was born July 18, 1916, in Denmark.
He began his affiliation with Loma Linda University in 1968, when he accepted a teaching position as professor of Church history on the La Sierra campus of Loma Linda University, Riverside (now La Sierra University).
Dr. Olsen was named chair of the department of religion at Loma Linda in 1970, and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and provost of the La Sierra campus in 1972.
In 1974, Dr. Olsen was asked by the Loma Linda University Board of Trustees to assume responsibilities as president of the institution.
Thus he began a ten-year span of service as president--the position for which he will be best remembered out of the nearly 50 years he served the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
When Dr. Olsen became president in 1974, he built upon the foundation of his predecessors and began to plan for a building program that would add new facilities to both the La Sierra and Loma Linda campuses of the University.
Following his retirement as president of Loma Linda University in 1984, Dr. Olsen was named scholar-in-residence--a position he held until his recent death.
He was named first Distinguished Faculty Lecturer by Loma Linda University in 1972, Andrews University Alumnus of the Year in 1973, and Man of the Year by the American Religious Town Hall in 1981.
Dr. Olsen is survived by his wife, Anita Norskov Olsen, and a multitude of
friends.