4 Mar 2010

Besam founder Bertil Samuelsson, 1933-2010

The entrepreneur behind the Besam line of products passed away in Landskrona, Sweden, last month.

Bertil Samuelsson, who retired from the company known as Besam International in 1997, died on Saturday, February 27, at the age of 76.

A trained engineer with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Bertil Samuelsson brought his family to Landskrona in 1956 to work for a company called Järnkonst.  A few years later he founded his first company, Servoelektronik AB, which provided electronic equipment for power plants. He then joined forces with ElektroSandberg to co-found the Sjölunda water treatment plant in Malmö, which led to the consturction of water and wastwater treatment faclities in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Lund.

Bertil Samuelsson founded Besam in 1962 in Landskrona by developing an automatic swing door operator for Sweden’s expanding healthcare sector. Demand for the product soon proved to exist on an international scale, which led to strategic expansion plans and the establishment of subsidiaries in Denmark, Germany and England. Sliding doors and service were added to the product portfolio in the 1970’s, with revolving doors following in the 1980s.

Bertil Samuelsson served as President and CEO of the rapidly expanding company until his retirement in1997, leaving Besam International established as a world leader in automatic door systems. Besam International was acquired by ASSA ABLOY in 2002.