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Lars Magnus Ericsson | |
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| Born | (1846-05-05)5 May 1846 |
| Died | 17 December 1926(1926-12-17) (aged 80) Botkyrka, Sweden |
| Occupation(s) | Inventor,entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder oftelephone equipment manufacturerEricsson |
Lars Magnus Ericsson (Swedish pronunciation:[lɑːʂˈmǎŋːnɵsˈêːrɪkˌsɔn]ⓘ; 5 May 1846 – 17 December 1926) was a Swedishinventor, entrepreneur and founder oftelephone equipment manufacturerEricsson (incorporated asTelefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson).
Lars Magnus was born inVärmskog,Värmland, and grew up in the small village of Vegerbol located betweenKarlstad andArvika. At the age of 12, Ericsson's father died forcing him to seek work as aminer. He worked until he had enough money to leave the village and move to Stockholm in 1867. He then worked for six years for an instrument maker namedÖllers & Co. who mainly createdtelegraph equipment. Because of his skills, he was given two state scholarships to study instrument making abroad between 1872 and 1875. One of the companies he worked at wasSiemens & Halske.
Upon his return to Sweden in 1876, he founded a small mechanical workshop together with his friend Carl Johan Andersson who had also worked atÖllers & Co.. This workshop was actually a former kitchen of some 13 m2 situated at Drottninggatan 15 in the most central part of Stockholm. Here, he started atelephone company by analyzing Bell company and Siemens telephones and creating his own copies in their image. It was not until they started cooperating with Henrik Tore Cedergren in 1883 that the company would start to grow into theEricsson corporation.
In the year 1900 Lars Magnus retired from Ericsson at the age of 54.[1] He kept his shares in the company until 1905 and then sold them all.
He is said to have been a demanding person, and disliked any direct publicity about his personality and did not wish to be idolized. He was, however, deeply respected by his employees. He was always a skeptic and cautious in business. He was also somewhat opposed topatents, as many of the products he made would not have been possible to do if the patent legislation had been overly effective. When his phones were copied by Norwegian companies he did not care, as his phones had in turn been largely copied from Siemens. He initially did not believe in amass market for telephones, and saw it as a toy for the leisure class.
Ericsson marriedHilda Simonsson in 1878. They had four children together: Johan (1879–1881), Gustaf (1880–1965), Anna (1881–1967) and Lars Magnus Jr. "Lalle" (1892–1921). When their daughter Anna was only six weeks old, their eldest son Johan died frompulmonary oedema. The couple also lost their son Lalle at a young age to tuberculosis.[2]
After his death in 1926, he was buried atHågelby gård inBotkyrka. At his explicit request, there is noheadstone marking his grave.
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