Jon Othar

Jón Óttar Ragnarsson aka Jon Othar (born August 10, 1945) is an acclaimed scientist/author/director from Iceland. He has been instrumental in improving the dietary habits and health of Icelanders. He has also been a pioneer in reforming the Icelandic broadcasting scene with his involvement in Stöð 2 (Channel 2-Iceland). He has written 6 books. , two of them bestsellers, hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles and dozens of radio programs. He now works in films as a writer-director and has an international feature film in the works, Kill the Poet, based on the life of one of Iceland’s greatest poets, Steinn Steinarr. Jon Othar is the son of legendary art patron Ragnar Jonsson (Ragnar í Smára), the publisher of Steinn Steinarr and Nobel-Prize winning writer Halldor Laxness.
Early life and education
Jon Othar was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. He graduated in Chemical Engineering with a B.Sc. (honours) from the University of Edinburgh in 1969 and then switched to Food Science and Nutrition. Jon Othar received his M.Sc. from M.I.T. in 1971 and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1976.
Nutrition and health career
In 1977 Jon Othar was appointed the first Head of the newly established Nutrition & Food Science Program at University of Iceland first as Assistant Professor and later as Associate Professor. He simultaneously became the head of the new Food and Nutrition division at the Agricultural Research Institute in Reykjavik receiving $1 million in grants from the Kellogg Foundation for his research. He was also appointed to the newly reformed Icelandic Nutrition Council and placed in charge of the 1979-1980 National Nutrition Survey. The survey showed that the diet in some age groups was on average deficient in 1 out of every 4 nutrients considered, including vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and dietary fiber. Jon Othar has written numerous articles in scientific journals as well as three books on nutrition and health. He was a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota in 1981.
In the Spring of 1977 Jon Othar co-organized Iceland’s first major conference on Lifestyle and Health (Neysluvenjur og Heilsufar) in the spring of 1977. The conference addressed especially the escalating epidemic of heart disease in Iceland and recommended significant changes in lifestyle: a healthier diet (including more fish, veggies and high-fiber breads; less saturated and factory-made trans-fats), more exercise and anti-smoking campaigns. The recommendations were widely publicized in the local media and had far-reaching consequences:
1. Iceland’s first ever B.Sc. program in Food Science and Nutrition was established at the University of Iceland to serve the food and health industry.
2. The Icelandic Nutrition Council was reorganized. It quickly concluded that up-to-date dietary information was the first step and so a new national nutrition survey was stipulated.
3. A Food and Nutrition division was established at the Agricultural Research Institute. Its first task was to analyze the macro- and micronutrient content of Icelandic foods.
4. The local food industry responded by launching innumerable new products and/or more wholesome versions of older products (healthier ingredients, better labeling etc.).
Most importantly, however, was the steady decline in the heart disease epidemic during the following decades. Thus between 1981 and 2006 there was a ca. 70 % decrease in death rate from coronary heart disease for both Icelandic men and women between the ages 25 and 74.
With evidence mounting that modern chronic killer diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer are at least 60-70 % preventable through healthier diet, greater exercise, abstention from smoking etc. In Press: (a) Jón Óttar Ragnarsson. Ráðstefnan sett (Opening address). (b) Sigmundur Guðbjarnason. Framtíðaráskorun (Future challenge). (c) Gunnar Sigurðsson. Offita fullorðinna og sykursýki (Adult obesity and diabetes). (d) Þórólfur Þórlindsson. Vísindi, heilsa & lífsstíll (Science, health and lifestyle). Jon Othar co-organized, in November 2009, a highly successful follow-up national conference: Prevention and Lifestyle (Forvarnir og lífsstíll), which brought together the nation’s best minds in this wide-ranging field. His co-organizers were Sigmundur Gudbjarnason, Professor Emeritus, University of Iceland, Gunnar Sigurdsson, Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Icelandic Heart Association and Thorolfur Thorlindsson, Professor of Social Sciences, University of Iceland. Dr. Louis Ignarro, Nobel-Prize winning scientist (Medicine and Physiology, 1998), was the honorary guest speaker. The conference overwhelmingly confirmed the power of lifestyle changes to improve public health and prevent disease (not to mention the crushing burden of skyrocketing health care costs). Thus e.g. data from the Icelandic Heart Association (Hjartavernd) indicate that 72 % of the drop in coronary heart disease mortality between 1981-2006 can be traced to (#1) a healthier diet, (#2) less smoking and (#3) more exercise.
Public career
In 1978 Jon Othar co-founded a national organization, Líf og land (Life and Land), in an effort to help protect Iceland’s fragile natural and cultural environment. Under his leadership as chairman the organization held numerous national conferences on a variety of environmental issues.
In 1983 Jon Othar co-organized, with Icelandic film director Lárus Ýmir Óskarsson and renowned Icelandic writer Thor Vilhjálmsson, the Andrei Tarkosvky Film Festival in Reykjavik bringing the famed Russian film director to Iceland.
In 1986 Jon Othar resigned his academic posts to co-found and manage Scandinavia’s first private television station, Stöð 2 (Cannel 2-Iceland), to compete with the state broadcasting channel RÚV. Competition in Iceland was especially hard. RUV was backed by state funds (mandatory license fees) and in addition enjoyed unlimited access to commercial advertising. Under Jon Othar’s leadership the growth of Channel 2 was phenomenal. Within 2 years it had reached three quarters of the homes in the country with more than a half as subscribers. As Icelanders have always loved chess one of the highlights was Channel 2’s hosting of the World Cup Chess in Reykjavik where Garry Kasparov successfully defended his title as world champion against most of the best chess players of the day. For his pioneering work Jon Othar, in 1988, became the first Icelander to receive the Scandinavian Marketing award whose prior recipients included Volvo’s Per Gyllenhammer and SAS’s Jan Carlzon.
Between 1994 and 2000 Jon Othar studied creative writing and filmmaking at USC and filmmaking at UCLA. He co-founded the Hollywood Scarefest and is co-owner of Rocket Video in Los Angeles whose “Rocket events” have included many world-renowned movie stars and filmmakers including Fay Dunaway, Paul Haggis and Dino de Laurentis. Jon Othar has been involved with over 200 television programs (usually as writer, director and producer and frequently as host as well) including health programs and documentaries about dozens of Icelandic and international artists and professionals including Icelandic Nobel Prize winning writer Halldor Laxness, famed French film director Jean-Jacques Annaud, Icelandic-Scottish television personality (BBC) Magnus Magnusson and American media tycoon Ted Turner. He wrote, directed and co-produced the documentary film One Day Will Rise (Eitt sinn upp skal rísa) about Iceland’s premier modern poet, Steinn Steinarr.
He has currently several international feature film projects in development based on his own screenplays including Kill the Poet, a suspenseful Romeo and Juliet love story about leading artists in Iceland and New York during World War II.
Awards
* 1988: Scandinavian Marketing award

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