• Co-founder of the blocks and rigging multinational dies in Pewaukee Wisconsin.
• He is survived by Ruth, his wife of 47 years, three daughters, four granddaughters and a grandson.
• Preliminary plans include a visitation and service Saturday morning, October 26 at Galilee Lutheran Church in Pewaukee, followed by a celebration at Harken HQ. For overseas friends, another celebration of Olaf’s life will be held at the Amsterdam METS show in November.
Olaf Harken died on Sunday in his sleep after being honoured on Saturday with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pewaukee Yacht Club. He and his older brother, Peter, created their globally successful Harken block and rope handling business having started out of a 60ft trailer in 1967. Initially they built dinghies under the Vanguard name, before the marine hardware side took over. Based at Pewaukee, Wisconsin, the brothers built a brand that became synonymous with good performance across a range of marine hardware. With subsidiaries in Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden and the UK Harken gear can be found on boats from Optimists to superyachts; cruisers and racing boats alike.
The company has also diversified into the commercial marine, architectural, rope access and rescue industries.
The brothers were inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2014, he explained the Harken business philosophy:  “When trying new stuff our rule is to ask, ‘if it all goes bad, can we survive?’  Then we go to the bar and forget what we just said and do it anyway!” The brothers took a lot of chances over the years – and encourage employees to do the same.
Olaf was born of Dutch and Swedish parents in Indonesia at the beginning of World War II. In 1941 after the Japanese attacked Indonesia, their mother escaped with Olaf and Peter ending up in San Francisco in 1944, via Borneo, New Zealand and Australia. Their Dutch father Joe fought the Japanese before being captured and spent the rest of the war in a prison camp. The family reunited in America in 1946.

Mold fabricator Don Michelson (left) and Peter Harken (second from left) discuss an International 470 build at Vanguard in the 1970s. © Harken

After studying at Georgia Tech, Olaf took an engineering job in New York City, but in 1967 he returned to Wisconsin to help Peter build boats for the college market. The pair bet on the likely success of the International 470 being chosen for the 1976 Olympics and it paid off, by the time they sold Vanguard in 1986 they had built 1500 470s. With the 470 success they built two versions of the International 420, a preparative design for the bigger boat. This “collegiate model” took off, with orders from Yale for a large fleet and the US Naval Academy. They also developed their own design for the Finn class – a boat Peter and Olaf had sailed, and made 1100 of these.
In a novel approach the brothers allowed sailors to come and work on their own boats and the company gained valuable knowledge as the sailors mixed with the designers and boatbuilders. They learned early that the real fuel behind a company’s success is its people. “Peter and I were not very smart,” Olaf wrote in his 2015 memoir Fun Times in Boats, Blocks & Business, “but we did know that success is linked directly to trust and treating people with dignity, and maybe a little sprinkling of humour.”

Peter Harken installing dinghy hardware. © Harken

And while Olaf was an engineer by training and Peter an economist, it was Olaf who ended up running the business side of Harken Inc., with Peter handling design and production. “Peter designed the blocks, and knew more about manufacturing than me,” Olaf said. “Olaf was more patient, better at the business side than me,” Peter said. “Each of us was better at the other guy’s education. We kept it quiet, figuring people wouldn’t want blocks designed by an economist.”

On Monday at Company HQ, Peter Harken told an assembly of Harken members: “My brother did all the hard work so I could have all the fun. During the days when the company was just getting going, Olaf was in charge of the money. He kept us in business. If I had been in charge we would have been in big trouble. His legacy is in this culture. So, let’s just keep doing what we do. Just keep getting better. You are a great family. Thanks a lot. He’ll be watching you, so no sloughing off!”