Erling Norvik was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 politician from the Conservative Party.

Norvik was born in Vadsø

Vadsø

is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark....

, the son of Erling Johannes Norvik

Erling Johannes Norvik

Erling Johannes Norvik was a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party.He was born in Trondenes....

, who served in the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget) from 1949 to 1961. The younger Norvik started his professional career as a journalist

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 for the regional paper Finnmarken when he was 12 years old and was elected to Stortinget in 1961 from his native county, Finnmark

Finnmark

or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...

, succeeding his father.

Norvik was seated in the legislature for three successive periods, from 1961 to 1973 and then resigned to become the leader of the Conservative Party, a post he held from 1974-1980 and 1984-1986. He turned down a ministerial post in 1981, choosing instead to work in the prime minister office's of his party colleague Kåre Willoch

Kåre Willoch

Kåre Isaachsen Willoch is a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party. He served as Minister of Trade and Shipping in 1963 and 1965–1970, and as Prime Minister of Norway from 1981 to 1986...

.

In 1986 he was appointed Governor ("Fylkesmann") of Østfold

Østfold

is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...

county, as which he served for 12 years.