He is also associated with his development of vacation resorts located in Arguineguín along the south coast of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands.

He was the son of farmer Hagbart Hartmann Lyng (1877- 1961) and nurse Helene Charlotte Steffens (1897-1960).

He was a cousin of Norwegian Prime Minister John Lyng and of ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl.

During the German occupation of Norway he joined the resistance movement, and was arrested in 1944 and incarcerated at Vollan, Falstad and Grini.

[3][4] In 1947 he established Mekaniske Verksted, an iron foundry in Vanvikan and Trøndelag Emaljeverk in Rissa.