Hans Colliander

Hans Erland Oskar Colliander (18 April 1924 – 18 October 2013) was a Swedish diplomat. After completing degrees in law and economics, he entered the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1950. Over the following years he served in key postings abroad, including Washington, D.C., Paris, Stockholm, and Moscow. In 1969 Colliander was appointed counsellor at Sweden’s delegation in Geneva, where he remained until 1976. He then represented Sweden as Permanent Representative of Sweden to the OECD in Paris for nearly a decade, before serving as ambassador to Greece from 1985 to 1989. Alongside these senior appointments, he chaired trade and aviation negotiations with several countries, advised the Federation of Swedish Industries in the early 1990s, and twice chaired the OECD Steel Committee, first from 1980 to 1985 and again from 1989 onwards. He was also active in cultural diplomacy, serving on the board of the Association for Friends of the Swedish Athens Institute.

Early life Colliander was born on 18 April 1924 in Uppsala, Sweden, the son of Elof Colliander, a senior librarian, and his wife Harriet (née Lejdström). He received a Candidate of Law degree from Uppsala University in 1946 and a diploma from the Stockholm School of Economics in 1949 before he took up employment at Skandinaviska Banken in 1949. He was also a board member of the Association for Friends of the Swedish Athens Institute.

Personal life Colliander was married from 1950 to 1974 to Kerstin Fredriksson (born 1923), and Katarina Colliander Keane.

After his retirement he settled in Athens, Greece. After an accident he spent the last two years of his life in Stockholm. He was interred on 26 November 2013 at Norra begravningsplatsen in Solna.

Awards and decorations Order of the Black Star Order of the White Elephant