1960–1979 Source: • 1960 Rudolf F. Bannow – President (1960) of the
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and owner of
Bridgeport (machine tool brand) • 1961
Amandus Johnson – Contributions to Swedish-American history and raising awareness of the 300 year jubilee of the Delaware Valley's
New Sweden colonies • 1962
Glenn T. Seaborg (*/**) – Chemist and winner of the 1951
Nobel Prize in nuclear chemistry. Vasa DL 15 Local Lodge 719 is named after Glenn T. Seaborg. • 1963
Elmer Engstrom – President of the
Radio Corporation of America • 1964 Werner P. Gullander – President (1962) of the
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Gullander lived in Palm Desert, CA and died in 2000. • 1965
Rudolph A. Peterson (*) – President of
Bank of America • 1966 G. Hilmer Lundbeck – Executive Director of the
Swedish American Line • 1967 Karl W. Hallden – Head of the industrial firm the Hallden Machine Company • 1968
Arleigh Albert Burke – Admiral of the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War, and who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations • 1969 Nils William Olsson (*) – Founder and Director of Swedish Council of America • 1970
Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin – American astronaut – with astronaut Neil Armstrong (1969), they were the first humans to walk on the Moon • 1971 Gustav Nyselius – Founder of Mount Vernon Die Casting Company • 1972 Gerry Rooth – Publisher of
Nordstjernan, and the quarterly publication of the
Vasa Star, the official magazine of the Vasa Order of America. • 1973 Eric C. Bellquist – Professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley • 1974 Bertil Winström (**) – Past Grand Master of
Vasa Order of America and founder of the Vasa National Archives in Bishop Hill, IL • 1975
Wendell R. Anderson – Politician, 33rd
Governor of Minnesota • 1976 Ewald B. Nyquist – Commissioner Of Education (1969–1976) of the State of New York • 1977
Roger Tory Peterson – Ornithologist, artist, environmentalist, and author of
A Field Guide to the Birds • 1978
Robert Orville Anderson – Founder and executive director of Atlantic Richfield Oil Company
ARCO, Los Angeles
Richfield Oil Corporation • 1979
Nils Yngve Wessell (*) – President of
Tufts University, Massachusetts
1980–1999 Source: • 1980 Signe Karlström (*) – First woman to be named Swedish-American of the Year. Karlström dedicated her life to membership in and leadership of Swedish-American cultural organizations and strengthening ties between Michigan and Sweden. • 1981
Curt Carlson (*) – Head of
Carlson, a hospitality and travel company; its primary subsidiary is
CWT, a travel management company. • 1982
Russell Peterson – President of the
National Audubon Society • 1983
J. Erik Jonsson – Founder of
Texas Instruments • 1984 Gurli Johnson – Worked for the
Salvation Army for 17 years and upheld Swedish traditions through services and radio programs • 1985
James R. Thompson – Politician, 37th
Governor of Illinois and served on the
9/11 Commission • 1986
Franklin S. Forsberg (*) – Publisher of the
Yank,
Stars & Stripes,
Liberty, and
Popular Mechanics magazines • 1987 Alice L. Carlson (*/**) – Grand Lodge Treasurer, Vice Grand Master, Grand Master for Vasa Order of America • 1988
Hildor Arnold Barton – Swedish-American historian, taught at University of Alberta, University of California, Santa Barbara and Southern Illinois University • 1989
Signe Hasso – Actress with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame • 1990 Oscar A. Lundin (*) – Vice President of
General Motors • 1991
Nils Hasselmo (*) – President of the University of Minnesota 1988–1997 • 1992 John N. Nordstrom – Grandson of
Nordstrom founder
John W. Nordstrom. John N. Nordstrom was the past owner of the
Seattle Seahawks (2016) • 1993
William Rehnquist – Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court • 1994
Arne H. Carlson – Politician, 37th
Governor of Minnesota • 1995
Richard E. Oldenburg – Director of the
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York. • 1996 Siri M. Eliason (*) – Started a Scandinavian furniture business and served as the Sweden Honorary Consul General in San Francisco • 1997 Arnold Lindberg – Career as Technical Director at Disney World • 1998 Glen E. Brolander (*) – Founding force for the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center. • 1999 Rod Johnson (*) – Swedish woodcarving
2000–2019 Source: • 2000
Helena Hernmarck – Textile artist • 2001
Ann-Margret Olsson – Actress, performer • 2002
Lyndon L. Olson Jr. – US Ambassador to Sweden 1998–2001 • 2003
Marilyn Carlson Nelson – Head of
Carlson and subsidiary
CWT. Carlson-Nelson is the daughter of founder Curt Carlson. • 2004 Lars Lerup – Architectural design author, lecturer and exhibitor • 2005 Jeanne Eriksson Widman (**/Vasa DL 4) – Founder of the Scandinavian Accordion Club of New York. Her father,
Walter Eriksson, was an accordion musician and had radio shows in New York. • 2006 Agneta Nilsson (*/**/Vasa DL 15) – Founder of
Swedish Women's Educational Association (SWEA) • 2007 E. Jan Hartmann (*) – Chair, president and CEO of
Ziebart International Corp. • 2008
Barbro Sachs-Osher – Publisher of
Vestkusten, a Swedish-language newspaper. • 2009 Anne–Charlotte Hanes Harvey (*/**/Vasa DL 15) is Professor Emerita of Theater at San Diego State University. • 2010 John Norton • 2011 Kerstin Lane (*) – Founder of the
Swedish American Museum with friend and fellow Swedish immigrant Kurt Mathiasson • 2012 Ingvar Wikström – Entrepreneur for Swedish food culture • 2013 Martina Arfwidson – Founder of FACE Stockholm • 2014
C. Fred Bergsten • 2015 Emily Tepe – Musician • 2016
Nils Lofgren – Musician • 2017
Jan Eliasson – Swedish diplomat who was Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations from July 2012 to December 2016 • 2018 Bruce Karstadt – President/CEO of the
American Swedish Institute • 2019 Eric Nelson – CEO of the
National Nordic Museum (* denotes a member of the Swedish Council of America (SCA) Board of Directors) (** denotes a member of Vasa Order of America (VOA)) ==References==