An associate of Sam Eyde, Eger was the chief executive officer of Elkem from 1912 to 1950, and later played a role in building the Norwegian iron industry.
He was born in Kristiania as a son of barrister Nicolai Andresen Eger (1849–1910) and his wife Marie Frimann Dietrichson (1853–1946).
The ruling cabinet Nygaardsvold and the Royal Family fled the capital Oslo, and Fascist politician Vidkun Quisling took advantage of the situation to perform a coup d'etat.
However, this was highly unpopular among the Norwegian people, and the newly arrived German occupants did not support such a government either.
From 1944 it was coordinated with the industrial planning for the post-war age, conducted out of London and New York by Norwegian authorities-in-exile.
[1] Eger was instrumental in the establishment of Norsk Jernverk in Mo i Rana in 1946,[3] having been appointed as chairman of the national Ironworks Commission in August 1945 by the Gerhardsen's First Cabinet.
He was also involved in academia, as a council member of NTNF and from 1951 as a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.