Vi har desværre erfaret, at seniorgeotekniker Lars Hansson er død den 2. oktober 2021, efter kort tids sygdom. Vi har modtaget denne nekrolog fra Jørgen S. Steenfelt. Billedet viser Lars i august 2020 under inspektion af et fundament til Storstrømsbroen.
Æret være Lars’ minde.
Nekrolog:
Obituary Lars Hansson
It was a chock to learn that Lars Hansson passed away 2021-10-02 after a very fast and aggressive case of cancer.
He will be sadly missed by his family, friends, and colleagues in COWI. Despite his decision to retire 2021-04-30 we still saw him a lot at his desk, Corona permitting.
Lars was easy-going and well-liked. He stood up for the things he believed in – and there you should not cross him. He often quoted his grandmother “There is always work for the horse that will put himself in the harness” and was always prepared to go the extra mile himself to meet deadlines or help on projects irrespective of hardships in location, timing or climate.
In 1979 I was the supervisor for Lars’ MSc. project and since then we have been friends and colleagues, first at the Danish Geotechnical Institute and later in COWI. His linguistic innovations of the Danish language made a permanent impression. After sharing an office with Lars for the works on the Stigsnæs Coal Terminal, my wife claimed that my vocabulary had changed to the more colourful side.
When I was his “boss” at the Danish Geotechnical Institute he was sent to assist on the greater Aden water reservoir in Yemen. As he was due back, I thought it would be a good idea for him to stop by in Bahrain where a job was under way. This prompted his then girlfriend to ask, “where do I send his pillow”, but Lars glossed it over.
Lars was extremely proud of his son, Emil, and at an external company course where we had to present ourselves, he simply wrote “Emil’s dad” rather than using work title as everybody else.
Lars was very fit and used running to “clear the mind” and enjoyed sailing in his boat on Lake Esrum as well as active cycling holidays in Europe.
Professionally Lars covered a lot of ground within the geotechnical profession but site investigations and site supervision on drilling ships, drilling platforms and more mundane onshore works were his preference. He was involved in many of the very large infrastructure projects, Storebælt, Fehmern, New Storstrømmen Bridge in Denmark; Qatar Bahrain Causeway in Qatar; Sitra Causeway in Bahrain; Ponte Nigale in Venezuela, the Busan Tunnel in South Korea; the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway in the Philippines and the Canakkale Bridge in Turkey. He worked on countless wind farm projects where he meticulously passed on his supervision capabilities to the younger generation.
Lars stayed abroad for longer periods in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and South Korea and he loved it. For the Busan project in South Korea, he had to board a Chinese exploration ship in Shanghai to check the CPT and other sounding equipment on the way. He was so disgusted with the lack of cleanliness that he ordered a complete turn-over of the ship! When we saw it in Busan, we could not believe his recount of the ship as it turned out spick and spam!
Lars will be sadly missed as a friend and colleague. It is comforting to know that he made an impression on the people he interacted with.
Jørgen S. Steenfelt
