John Oscar Egeland was a Norwegian shipping leader.

He was born in Eshowe, British South Africa as a son of Gabriel Egeland (1862–1893) and his wife Ingeborg Konsmo. After the death of his father the family moved back to Norway. Egeland took his examen artium

Examen artium

Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...

 at Kristiania Cathedral School in 1910. He was hired as a secretary in the Norwegian Shipowners' Association

Norwegian Shipowners' Association

The Norwegian Shipowners Association is an employers' organization and interest group for Norwegian shipping and offshore companies. The organization's primary fields are national and international industry policies, employer issues, competence and recruitment, environmental issues and innovation...

 in 1916. He worked for the organization in the United States from 1918 to 1919.

He was married to Eva Puntervold Winther (1896–1969) from 1919, and they had the son Erik Egeland

Erik Egeland

Erik Egeland was a Norwegian journalist and art critic.He was born in Bekkelaget as a son of John Oscar Egeland and Eva Puntervold Winther . The family soon moved to Frogner. He was the father of journalist and editor John Olav Egeland...

, who was the father of journalist and editor John Olav Egeland

John Olav Egeland

John Olav Egeland is a Norwegian journalist and editor.He was born in Oslo as a son of writer Erik Egeland and grandson of John Oscar Egeland. He was a journalist in Orientering from 1973 to 1975, and was the chief editor of Universitas, student newspaper at the University of Oslo, from 1977 to...

. In 1975 he got married again, to Else Endresen (1901–1978).

In 1921 he was hired as leader of Kontoret for økonomisk opplysning, a press office for large business organizations including the Shipowners' Association. From 1940 to 1942 he led Nevnden for Oversjøisk Import og Eksport, but it was subdued by Nazi rule in World War II

Quisling regime

The Quisling regime, or the Quisling government are common names used to refer to the collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Nasjonale regjering...

. After the war Egeland was assisting director of the Shipowners' Association from 1946, and acting director from 1948 to his retirement in 1954.

Egeland was a board member of Foreningen Norden

Foreningen Norden

Foreningen Norden , Föreningen Norden , Norræna félagið , Norrøna Felagið or Pohjola-Norden , The Nordic Association, is an organization in the Nordic countries which exists to promote civil cooperation between the Nordic countries...

, and of the publications Morgenbladet

Morgenbladet

Morgenbladet is a Norwegian weekly newspaper. It was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg, and was the country's first daily newspaper. For a long time, it was also the country's biggest newspaper. It was closed down by the German Wehrmacht during World War II...

and NÅ

Na

Na or na may refer to:*Na , a Japanese kana*Na or Mesua ferrea, a species of tree native to Sri Lanka*.na, the top-level domain for Namibia*Na people, a small tribal group in India...

. His son worked for both. Egeland wrote three books about Norwegian shipping history: Gjennom brott og brann (released 1968, about the WWII period), Vi skal videre (released 1971, about the post-war period) and Kongeveien (released 1973, about the pre-war period). He died in September 1985 in Oslo.