Pehr Gyllenhammar, Founder of the Volvo World Cup Series, Passed Away

History

Sweden

Pehr Gustaf Gyllenhammar, the legendary Volvo chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), passed away after a period of illness in Toronto, Canada, on 21 November 2024. He was 89 years old.

Gyllenhammar, who held the key position at the Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation from 1970 to 1994, was instrumental in the creation of the FEI’s most prestigious indoor series in Jumping, the FEI Jumping World Cup™. The series’ first season was launched in 1978 with the Final held in 1979 at the Scandinavium arena in Gyllenhammar’s native Gothenburg, where Volvo has its headquarters. The Swedish city would go on to host 15 FEI World Cup™ Finals.

Starting with the series’ inaugural season, and with Gyllenhammar’s staunch support, Volvo became the FEI Jumping World Cup™ title sponsor of the qualifiers in all the Leagues and Finals until 1998. Believing that Dressage would be a perfect complement to the existing involvement in Jumping, in 1990 Volvo also became the title sponsor of the FEI Dressage World Cup™ up until 1998.

“The FEI is infinitely grateful to Pehr G. Gyllenhammar for his support with the creation of one the FEI’s most important series. Volvo’s sponsorship continued for 20 years and laid the foundation for the successful worldwide series the FEI Jumping World Cup has become today. He was also a great proponent of the FEI World Equestrian Games, the first edition of which was held to general acclaim in the Swedish capital Stockholm,” FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.

After Volvo, Gyllenhammar withdrew from Swedish public life and moved to London where he eventually became chairman of insurance company Aviva. He returned to Swedish business in 2004 as Chairman of Investment AB Kinnevik.

Gyllenhammar married three times (Christina Engellau, horse sport journalist Christel Bergmann, and Lee Welton Croll). He is survived by his third wife, British-Canadian doctor of psychology Lee Welton Croll, and five children. The last years of his life he lived in Canada.