Asmund Laerdal, a patron, catalyst and leader for resuscitation developments worldwide, died from cancer at his home in Stavanger, Norway on November 19, 1981. At the funeral services on America's Thanksgiving Day, we said thanks for what he has given the world. He was a great man, whose quiet, but determined, manners and eagerness to help whenever he perceived a need, earned him much respect and love.

Asmund Laerdal was born in Norway on October 11, 1913. He went to business school, traveled throughout Europe by bicycle during his youth, married Margit in 1939, and started a small printing business in 1940. Nazi occupation between 1941 and 1945 threatened his life, but did not wreck his little company. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s he printed childrens' books and calendars and made inexpensive wooden and plastic toys. The latter included “Anne Doll,” the “toy of the year,” made of soft plastic, with sleeping eyes and natural hair.