The Stig Wadström Foundation gives back to Norrköping

Jenny Widén

Stig Wadström passed away two years before, aged 89. He was the last of the family to live in the house.

Visualisation lab for children and young people

Another major long-term initiative from the foundation provides annual funds for research in visual research communication on the university’s Campus Norrköping. The funds have resulted, among other things, in the completion of a laboratory named Wadströms Exploranation Laboratory at its inauguration in 2022. Its activities are mainly aimed at children and young people who, with a little guidance, can explore everything from the outer edges of the universe to the inner parts of the human being.

Jenny Widén

Robert Willén chairs the foundation’s board, and his brother Fredrik is one of four other members. Robert tells us that their father became Stig Wadström’s financial advisor in 1963, a business relationship that grew into a friendship that lasted until their father passed away in 2012. The task of managing Stig’s finances then fell to Robert. He remembers that his father urged him to make sure that Stig's money would go to good things.

Successful textile producer

It was Stig’s father Arthur Wadström who laid the foundation for the family’s fortune. In 1907, he founded the Wadström & Indebetou woollen mill together with Axel Indebetou. The building at the corner of Sandgatan and Luntgatan, not far from the current university campus, housed eight pounding looms – the start of a company that soon became one of Norrköping’s most successful textile producers. By the mid-1930s, the business employed around 200 people. Axel Indebetou passed away in 1946, and the following year Arthur decided to sell the company after more than 40 years in business. He himself spent his last fifteen years managing his capital through real estate and stock trading, while cultivating his deep interest in art.

In the early 1920s Arthur married Karin Mellberg, almost 20 years his junior, and in 1929 their son Stig was born. Stig seems to have had no desire to follow in his father's footsteps. He was more interested in the family farm Gillberga in Kimstad, which was run by a tenant farmer, with some help from Stig. It was also the Wadström family’s summer residence. Stig was primarily interested in technology and innovative solutions, attended agricultural fairs and made sure to acquire modern and fun solutions for the farm over time.

Arthur Wadström passed away at the age of 88, in 1963, leaving a large fortune to his wife Karin and son Stig, who continued to live a peaceful life together in the villa. Stig never married or had children.

Lasting values

Jenny Widén

After Karin passed away, in 1985, at the age of 91, Stig managed his inheritance himself. Robert Willén points out that he was a skilled asset manager. His brother Fredrik adds that Stig lived frugally and was kind-hearted toward his relatives and those who worked at Gillberga. A few years before Stig passed away, Robert asked him what he would want to do with the money. They agreed that it would be a pity to leave everything to the General Inheritance Fund. Stig had no concrete ideas but was very clear that he appreciated lasting values and that he “believed in the Wallenberg family and their long-term perspective”. He also felt it was important to give back to society – and to do something good for Norrköping.

New thoughts in the Wadström Villa

In his will, Stig Wadström decided that a foundation with his name would be set up after his death. Robert Willén explains that in accordance with Stig’s instructions, this foundation was to promote research, scientific progress and education, and his fortune was to be of benefit to Norrköping and Sweden. Robert and his brother Fredrik see their task as a great trust – to let both house and fortune serve higher purposes, just as Stig Wadström wanted. At the back of their minds, there is always: “What would Stig have wanted us to do?”

So, where the pounding of looms once filled his father’s mill and the university’s buildings now rise in the same neighbourhood, the city’s history and future meet. In the villa where Stig Wadström once grew up, new thoughts and ideas are woven that shape tomorrow’s society – a living legacy that continues to bear fruit for generations to come.

Jenny Widén