Haraldur Bessason: August’s Interesting Icelander
- Sharron Arksey
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Sharron Arksey
If you are a Manitoban of Icelandic descent, you likely recognize the name Haraldur Bessason (I155214). As the Chair of the Icelandic Department at the University of Manitoba for several decades and a former editor of Lögberg-Heimskringla, he was a well-known figure in western Icelandic circles. But I did not know that Bessason was born in Iceland, nor that his remains are buried there. I was surprised last year to see his grave in the churchyard at Holar in northern Iceland.
Haraldur Bessason was born in the Skagafjörður region of northern Iceland on April 14, 1931. He got his Candidate of Philosophy degree (master’s level) in 1952 and his Cand. Mag degree (Candidate of the Arts) in 1956.
That same year, he became Chair of the Icelandic Language and Literature Department at the University of Manitoba. He would remain in that position until 1987. He was the only full-time faculty member in the department, but quickly made his mark in the academic world.
In addition to contributing to such scholarly works as A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth (written by Jon Johannessen and translated by Bessason) and The Edda: A Collection of Essays (co-edited by Bessason and R.J. Glendinning), Bessason wrote for Lögberg-Heimskringla, Icelandic Canadian, Morgunblaðið, and other publications. He published essays, articles, and reviews on Scandinavian mythology and Icelandic language and literature. He also served on the boards of both Lögberg-Heimskringla and Icelandic Canadian.
Bessason had married Ásgerður Haraldsdóttir in 1953. When they boarded their flight to New York in 1956, on the first leg of their trip to Manitoba, they brought with them two daughters, Steinunn and Elinborg. The couple would have a third daughter, Kristin, in Winnipeg.
In 1978, Bessason married Margrét Björgvinsdóttir, originally from Reykjavik. Their daughter Sigrun was born in 1979.
When Lögberg-Heimskringla needed an editor, Bessason and his second wife, Margrét, accepted a two-year term as co-editors of the publication. They served in that capacity from 1979 until the fall of 1981, when Jonas Thor took over as the paper’s new editor.
The University of Manitoba encouraged community involvement by its faculty members and in 1981 initiated the Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Campbell Outreach Award for staff members who successfully reached out to the community. Bessason was one of the first two winners of this award.
When he left Winnipeg in 1987, it was to become the first president/rector of the University of Iceland in Akureyri. At the time, he told interviewers that he was interested in building up a solid science curriculum at the new university. He had a particular interest in oceanography, he said. It seemed a sudden shift for a man whose interest and experience had always been in literature and the humanities, but Bessason liked nothing better than a challenge.
He held the Akureyri position until 1994 and was later awarded the university’s first honorary doctorate in 2000. By that time, he was accustomed to acknowledgement for his achievements; he was inducted into the Order of the Falcon by the Icelandic government in 1970 and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba in 1990.
Bessason remained in Iceland until 2003, when he returned to Canada. He died in Toronto, Ontario, on the 8th of April 2009, less than a week before his 78th birthday. In his obituary, family noted that he would be remembered best “for his generosity, humor, and his stories.”
His name is centred on the gravestone at Holar with Margrét on one side of him and Margrét’s mother, Kristín Pétursdóttir, on the other side. The inscription below their names is a selection from a poem by Stefán G. Stefánsson, which translates as follows:
“Never let your mind grow old or your heart grow old.
Be a son of the morning sun.”
_______________
Sources
“Haraldur Bessason.” Wikipedia. [website]. 11 Oct 2025. Retrieved from: https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haraldur_Bessason : 08 Jul 2026.
“Obituary: Professor Haraldur Bessason.” The Free Press Passages [website]. 12 Apr 2009. Retrieved from: https://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-148790/BESSASON_PROFESSOR : 08 Jul 2026.
