Heikki A. Reenpää (born 1922), long-standing Chair of the Board and Managing Director of Otava, passed away peacefully in Helsinki on 18 September 2020. Publisher Heikki A. Reenpää, who died at the age of 98, believed in education as the nation’s backbone and essential resource.

Heikki A. Reenpää was also a passionate bibliophile, who donated his culturally and historically valuable collection to the National Library of Finland.

His significance for Finland’s cultural life in the decades after the country gained independence is unique. He knew personally all the influencers in politics, culture and the sciences who shaped Finland after independence.