George Wegner Paus | |
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| Born | 14 October 1882 Christiania, Norway |
| Died | 22 December 1923 (aged 41) |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, mountaineer, skiing pioneer, sailor, rower |
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George Wegner Paus (14 October 1882 – 22 December 1923), often known as George Paus, was a Norwegian lawyer, mountaineer, skiing pioneer, sailor, rower, poet, diplomat and business executive.
He practiced for a short period as a lawyer in Christiania in 1905 before serving for two years as a consular secretary and deputy head at the new Norwegian consulate in Chicago, being one of the first members of Norway's newly established foreign service. In 1907, he returned to Norway and became one of the first two employees and the first lawyer of the Norwegian Employers' Confederation, where he became director in 1918. He played an important role in labour issues in Norway and in the development of Norwegian labour law from the early 20th century, and participated in the establishment of the International Labour Organization in Washington, D.C., in 1919 as a representative of the Norwegian government. He also served on several governmental committees.[1] He was a member of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights.
He was one of Norway's most active mountaineers in the early 1900s with several first ascents in Jotunheimen; his regular mountaineering partners included his close friend Kristian Tandberg, pioneering female mountaineer Therese Bertheau whom he knew since childhood, and some of the most famous British mountaineers of the era including Harold Raeburn and Howard Priestman. He was also an avid sailor and rower who participated in national competitions. In the early 20th century he wrote poetry that often explored the connection between nature and human experiences. He was the founder and chairman of the ski club and literary society Starkad from 1897, described in the book Vinterlivets rene glæder (The Joy of Winter Life), named after one of his poems.