Former Dagbladet journalist Per Vassbotn dies at 84

Former Dagbladet journalist and government official Per Vassbotn died peacefully at home on June 27, his family announced. He was 84.

Vassbotn worked as a political journalist at Dagbladet from 1968 to 1976 and returned to the paper in 1986, remaining until 1998. Between his two stints at the newspaper, he served as a program secretary and parliamentary reporter for NRK, and as a state secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office under Odvar Nordli’s government from 1980 to 1981.

He authored the book Lekkasje og forlis in 1971 about the fall of Per Borten’s government, later revised and republished as Da Borten falt in 1986.

Vassbotn was married to Anne-Beate for 61 years, with whom he had three children. In a tribute, his family described him as a “beloved husband, father, grandfather, journalist, political commentator, and sharp wit until the very end.”

From 2002 to 2007, he worked at IBM, first as a press contact and later as communications director.