In Memoriam: Lennart J. Lundqvist
Professor Emeritus Lennart J. Lundqvist passed away on 28 December 2025, leaving great sorrow and a deep sense of loss. He was 86 years old. He is survived by his daughters Åsa Dalström and Anja Lundqvist and their children, as well as his stepson Johan Moerth and his wife and children.
Lennart (“Lunkan” among us colleagues) was born on 26 April 1939 in Drängsmark, in the parish of Byske, Västerbotten County. He was the son of the painter Oskar Lundqvist and Karin Brännström. No path into academia is like any other. As a young man, Lennart had no plans to pursue higher education. After completing compulsory school and confirmation, he instead decided to work in his father’s painting business, based in the family home in the village of Drängsmark in the municipality of Skellefteå. Lennart became an apprentice painter, the third generation in a family of painters.
After a few years of professional work, he completed his compulsory military service with the Signal Battalion S3 in Boden. It was probably during his military service that Lennart came to realize that he had an aptitude for further studies, driven by a strong need to create order and systematize things. As a young man, Lennart was a devoted stamp collector, owned an impressive collection of football trading cards, and kept meticulous accounts. He also recognized other strengths: he was good with numbers, had an excellent memory, was technically inclined, and – as we can all attest – exceptionally quick-thinking. These insights eventually led him to pursue further education after all.
With great determination and speed, he completed his upper secondary education in just two years, graduating with excellent grades. This inspired him to continue his studies, which led to a Master’s degree in Political Science (Politices magister) at Uppsala University in 1967. His choice to study politics was no coincidence. Politics was part of everyday life in Lennart’s childhood home. His father was a Social Democrat and active in the local workers’ association. Whenever a parliamentary election approached, it was not only the political elite in Stockholm that felt the heat rise, but also within the four walls of the Lundqvist household.
Following his successful undergraduate studies, Lennart continued toward a doctoral degree, which he obtained in Political Science (or Statskunskap, as it is still called in Uppsala) in 1971. His dissertation described and analyzed the emergence of Swedish environmental policy and administration. He became a Docent (Associate Professor) in 1975 and was awarded – and accepted, despite describing himself as an “eager republican” – King Oscar II’s Jubilee Prize for the most meritorious docent at Uppsala University. Around the same time, Lennart spent several years as a visiting researcher in the United States, at Indiana University and Princeton University. This research resulted, among other things, in the frequently cited work The Hare and the Tortoise: Clean Air Policy in the United States and Sweden (University of Michigan Press, 1980).
In his scholarly work, Lennart sought to ensure that his research and academic service were of benefit both to colleagues and to society at large. This motivation led him to work for the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSFR) for two years, after which he took up a position as a researcher at the National Institute for Building Research (SIB) in 1980.
During the 1980s, issues of the environment and sustainable development rose on the political agenda in Sweden, Europe, and globally. Sweden was an early leader in developing environmental policy and governance and thus attracted international attention. The University of Gothenburg recognized the need for closer scientific study of this field and recruited Lennart, the country’s leading expert on environmental policy, as a senior lecturer in 1988.
In 1994, Lennart was awarded a well-deserved professorship in Political Science with a special focus on “organizational and implementation processes in the environmental field.” With this appointment, he became Sweden’s first professor specializing in environmental policy – a trust he fulfilled in an exemplary manner. During his time as a professor in Gothenburg, the field of environmental policy research grew rapidly. Under Lennart’s leadership and his warm and caring mentorship, more than 30 environmental policy scholars have, to date, earned their doctorates at the University of Gothenburg alone. Many of them are now leading experts, civil servants, and researchers in Sweden and internationally.
It is impossible to capture in a few words Lennart’s contributions to Swedish and international environmental research. In addition to the fact that several of his scholarly works continue to be cited regularly today, Lennart was a co-founder of several important academic fora, including one of Europe’s largest conferences in the field of environmental policy: the Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference (NESS), which attracts several hundred participants each time it is held and where Lennart held a place of honor for as long as he was academically active. His strong commitment to societal development and politics continued even after his retirement.
Many of us colleagues owe Lennart a great deal. He was not only a knowledgeable, warm, and caring teacher, supervisor, and friend; he was also an open and living encyclopedia. His thoughtfulness, professionalism, and passion for the subject were evident in supervision, seminars, conferences, and – perhaps most notably – in his extensive and detailed comments on our ongoing work.
Lennart was also a master of language. He and his brother David amused themselves for many years by writing limericks to one another, the results of which the rest of us often had the pleasure of enjoying. Lennart would happily knock on colleagues’ office doors to proudly recite his latest witty turns of phrase. Despite growing up in Västerbotten, he took Gothenburg humor to heart and became adept – sometimes almost too adept – at adding a linguistic twist to whatever one might be speaking or writing about.
Lennart’s sharp intellect, collegiality, warmth, and humor will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.
Sverker C. Jagers, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg.
Victor Galaz, Associate Professor, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University.
Marie Uhwing, Head of the Sustainability Department, SwedishEnvironmental Protection Agency.
Jonas Hinnfors, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg.
