Royal Caribbean co-founder passes away
Arne Wilhelmsen, a joint founder of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., has died, aged 90.
Wilhelmsen died at the weekend in Palma, Spain and was a Royal Caribbean board member for over three decades until 2003.
He was at the forefront of the modern cruise industry and helped put Miami on the map as the world’s cruising capital.
"At a time when the rest of the world thought cruising was a niche use for old transatlantic liners, Arne was already seeing glimmers of the growth that was possible," said Richard Fain, RCL chairman and CEO.
"He had a vision of the modern cruise industry when the `industry’ might have been a dozen used ships, total."
He worked as a ship broker in the 1950s and then worked at the family owned shipping business, Anders Wilhelmsen & Co AS.
He helped start Royal Caribbean in 1968 in partnership with two other Norwegian shipping firms.
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