Gunnar Solum was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

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He started his career in journalism. He was editor-in-chief of Brønnøysunds Avis, then became a journalist in Namdalsavisa

Namdalsavisa

Namdalsavisa is a daily, local newspaper serving the district of Namdal, Norway. Published in Namsos, circulation is 12,898 The newspaper is owned by A-pressen, and was known as Namdal Arbeiderblad until the mid-1990s....

in 1961. He was promoted to chief editor in 1970.

In 1975 he was elected mayor of Namsos

Namsos

is a town and municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Other villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Klinga, Ramsvika, Skomsvoll, and Spillum....

 municipality, and resigned as newspaper editor. He had first been elected to the municipal council in 1952. He served as mayor for four terms, to 1991. He was instrumental in the relocation of the Statskog

Statskog

Statskog is a Norwegian state owned enterprise responsible for the management of state owned forest - and mountain real estate totalling approximately 20% of the area of Norway. About 5% of Statskog's land is productive forest while 80% is above the tree line...

 agency from Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 to Namsos. He was also a member of Nord-Trøndelag

Nord-Trøndelag

is a county constituting the northern part of Trøndelag in Norway. As of 2010, the county had 131,555 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-least populated county. The largest municipalities are Stjørdal, Steinkjer—the county seat, Levanger, Namsos and Verdal, all with between 21,000 and...

 county council

County council (Norway)

A County Council is the highest governing body of the county municipalities in Norway. The county council sets the scope of the county municipal activity. The council is led by a chairman or county mayor...

 from 1991 to 1995, and served as a deputy member from 2003 to his death. He was an honorary member of the national Labour Party.

In his younger days he was a footballer for Namsos IL

Namsos IL

Namsos Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Namsos, Nord-Trøndelag, founded on 28 November 1904. It has sections for association football, alpine skiing and ski jumping....

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