Kåre Norvald Lerum 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...

 businessperson and politician.

He was born in Vik

Vik

Vik is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of Vik is the village of Vikøyri.-General information:...

, and took an education in Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

. He was hired as manager in 1976, and was later the chief executive officer, in Lerum

Lerum (company)

Lerum is a Norwegian company, which produces food and drinks.It was started in 1907 by Nils Hansson Lerum and his wife Kari Hansdotter Ørbech as a small store in Sørheim, Luster. Since many in the rural community paid with berries, they started production of conserves. The company N. H. Lerums...

 in Sogndal

Sogndal

Sogndal is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Sogndalsfjøra is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other main villages include Kaupanger, Kjørnes, and Fjærland...

, a family company he owned together with brother Bjarne Lerum

Bjarne Lerum

Bjarne Magnar Lerum was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Progress Party.He was a son of Karl Lerum, and brother of Kåre Lerum and Gerd Kjellaug Berge. Together with Kåre Lerum he was the owner of the family company Lerum in Sogndal...

. He is also a brother of Gerd Kjellaug Berge

Gerd Kjellaug Berge

Gerd Kjellaug Berge, née Lerum is a Norwegian hotelier and national business council leader.She was born in Sogndal, as a sister of Kåre Lerum and Bjarne Lerum. She became director of a hotel in Selje in 1976, and co-owner with her husband Harald in 1983...

. Lerum was succeeded as chief executive officer by Jan Petter Vadheim in 2004. The brothers passed the ownership of the company down to their children in 2005. Lerum is still one of the wealthiest people in Sogndal.

Lerum chaired the employers' organisation Konservesfabrikkenes Landsforening. He was a member of Sogndal municipal council for six years, and served as mayor from 1978 to 1982. He represented the Conservative Party, but joined the Progress Party

Progress Party (Norway)

The Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...

 in 2002.

Lerum was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 2005. In 2003 he won a prize from the regional branch of Noregs Mållag

Noregs Mållag

Noregs Mållag is the main organisation for Norwegian Nynorsk , one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language. In the Norwegian language struggle, it advocates the use of Nynorsk...

.