Håkon Balstad

Hans Håkon Balstad (12 September 1904 – 30 September 1964) was a Norwegian civil servant who served as the Governor of Svalbard from 1945 to 1956. He was the longest-serving person in the position.

Biography Balstad was born on 12 September 1904 in Grue Municipality in Norway. His father, Stein Balstad, was an author. He finished a law degree in 1928 and then worked as an assistant for a judge for one year. He was a clerk for the Ministry of Church Affairs in 1929 and rose to the position of assistant secretary in 1934. He moved there soon after with his fiancée and future wife, Liv Balstad, who subsequently wrote a popular account of her life in Svalbard, titled Nord for det øde hav (North of the desolate sea). Due to Svalbard's small population (which was a few hundred when he was named Governor), in addition to Governor, Balstad also served as notary public, police chief, judge, and county commissioner. while an article in The Contemporary Review noted him to be "barrel-chested, with a bellowing voice and a pet husky". The newspaper Nordlys described him as "a very pleasant and sociable man who had won many friends both abroad and at home". After he returned, he became a judge for the Kristiansand District Court. In his last years, he was very ill and he died on 30 September 1964, at the age of 60, while on a trip to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.