Åke Helge Ortmark was born on May 14, 1929, in Vasastan, Stockholm, and died on October 18, 2018.
He was a Swedish journalist, author and radio and television presenter.
Over the period of his long career Ortmark worked for both television and radio, he also authored several books.
Ortmark studied economics at the University of California in the United States, during the 1950’s.
Ortmark earned a Master of Science in Business and Economics at Handelshögskolan in Stockholm in 1954.
Ortmark began working at Sveriges Radio in 1958.
Ortmark was for some time a newsreader for Aktuellt which was broadcast on Sveriges Television.
He was the creator and the first to use the technique named “Skjutjärnsjournalistik” in Swedish with Herbert Söderström, which means that a reporter asks the person they interview very hard and tough questions.
Ortmark along with Lars Orup and Gustaf Olivecrona became known for using the technique in live broadcast on Sveriges Television in 1966 while interviewing the Prime Minister Tage Erlander.
Himself and Erlander in the studio in 1966.
He became the editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Veckans Affärer between 1974 and 1976.
From 1997 Ortmark was the television presenter for his own interview show O som i Ortmark which was broadcast on TV8 until 2006, by which time Ortmark decided to leave to work for Axess TV.
He received the television award Kristallen in 2005 in the category Stiftelsens hederspris (the Foundation’s Honour Award) for his work in TV and dedication for news and discussions.
Ortmark took part in Sommar i P1 talking about his career and life, on June 25, 2006
He was member of Humanisternas (the humanists) council in 2008.
During 2013, he published his memoirs called Makten och lögnen – ett liv i televisions Sverige which told about his career in journalism as a story.
Åke Helge Ortmark passed away at 89 years old.