Georg C. Ehrnrooth
Georg C. Ehrnrooth (1926-2010) was born on 29 July 1926 in Nastola, Finland. His parents were Master of Laws Carl Johan Casimir Ehrnrooth and Aina Hélène Louise Mannerheim. Georg C. Ehrnrooth studied law at the University of Helsinki. In 1952 he was awarded the title of Master of Laws (with court training) and in 1954 he graduated as Licentiate of Laws from the University of Helsinki.
Georg C. Ehrnrooth had roots in two distinguished Finnish families. His father Carl Johan Ehrnrooth and grandfather Georg Ehrnrooth were both during their time prominent persons within Finnish business and industry, and Georg C. Ehrnrooth’s godfather, and his mother’s relative, were General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim.
Georg C. Ehrnrooth became politically active in the mid-1950s. In 1953 he traveled to the United States where he met with several famous and influential American politicians. The trip inspired young Georg C. to pursue a political career home in Finland. Georg C. Ehrnrooth had already during his studies been a part of the youth department of the Swedish People’s Party “Swedish Youth Right”. In 1956 he was elected to the Helsinki City Council after a successful campaign and in 1958 Georg C. Ehrnrooth begun his 25-year long career as a member of the Finnish parliament. This ended Georg C. Ehrnrooth’s career as a practicing lawyer at the Procopé & Hornborg law firm, where he had worked since graduation.
Georg C. Ehrnrooth’s political platform was manifested by a strong belief in parliamentary democracy, which would come to make him one of the strongest critics of President Urho Kekkonen’s use of executive power. Georg C. also became politically known for his consideration of the elderly. In 1973, Urho Kekkonen was elected president by an emergency law, which the Swedish People’s Party supported. Georg C. Ehrnrooth realized that he had to engage himself in a completely new party, the Constitutional People’s Party, later the Constitutional Right Party, for which he acted as party leader until 1992.
In his politics, Georg C. was motivated, beyond a strong patriotic and democratic notion, by his interest in social justice, which in turn motivated him to engage in several charity organizations, including a number of Family Foundations. He was for over 60 years a member of the board of Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation and almost 40 years a member of the board of Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation. Georg C. Ehrnrooth’s decision to found a foundation in his own and his late wife’s name was, therefore, a natural evolution.
For more on Georg C. Ehrnrooth see:
- Michael Franck’s documentary Min gudfar & Kekkonen (YLE 2020)
- Ehrnrooth, Georg C., Simma med krokodilerna. En oliktänkare i Kekkonens republik (Schildts 1999)
- Keski-Rauska, Riku, Kekkosta ja kommunismia vastaan: Georg C. Ehrnroothin poliittinen toiminta vuosina 1945-1982, doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki 2014.
- Keski-Rauska, Riku, Yksinäinen Ehrnrooth. Georg C. Ehrnrooth YYA-Suomen puristuksessa (Otava 2015).