Eigil Erbe

Eigil Erbe (7 January 1886 - 10 October 1970) was born in Trondheim, Norway. His father Lorentz Erbe was a businessman who started a candy factory in 1877. Eigil Erbe skipped high school to go to the university early at the age of 20, studying engineering. As an engineer he was only paid 0.10 NOK per hour; he immigrated to the US in search of better pay. He traveled on the ship Kristiania to the United States. Before he could enter the US he had to submit to a health inspection at Ellis Island. He was suffering from malnutrition so he was not allowed to pass to New York. He stayed at Ellis Island for some time, but eventually became healthy enough to be allowed to pass to New York. When he and the other immigrants walked off the ship, hundreds of people bombarded them with eggs and rotten tomatoes. He worked in the US as a draftsman and builder from 1906 to 1908, when he found a job on a ship to South America.
In South America, Erbe worked in both Argentina and Uruguay. After that he went to Paraguay to lead the building of the railroads through the jungle. He hunted crocodiles in the Amazon River in addition to his occupation as an engineer. Erbe and his workers stayed in tents in the jungle at night. After some years in South America, he decided to travel back to Trondheim.
In 1910, he took over his father's candy factory, which then became known as Lorentz Erbe og sønn A/S. The production was in the basement of a large house in the street Dronningens gate. The business became one of the city's biggest companies, with over 200 employees. They produced much of the candy in Mellomveien, Ila. The company produced candies such as Sweetmint, Prositt, Kamferdrops, Tusenfryd and Kongen av Danmark. Many of the products he manufactured still exist today. He controlled the company until he was 80 years old, when he combined the company with Nidar sjokolade fabrikk A/S to form Nidar Erbe A/S. Later on, many other small candy factories combined themselves with Nidar Erbe A/S. The company still exists today, named Nidar.
Eigil Erbe was active in Trondheim's industry and held many positions in other companies,<ref nametusen/> including from 1938<ref nameHvem1948/> as a board member and later Chairman of the Board at Nobø fabrikker A/S, an important company at the time.
Eigil Erbe was married twice. In 1913 he married Aasta Dorothea Amundsen;<ref name=Hvem1948/> the marriage was childless, so the couple adopted a daughter, Gunnvor, who moved to the US. In his second marriage he had two sons: Just Henrikk Johannes Erbe and Eigil Erbe Jr.

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