Harald Simonsen

Harald Simonsen (2 August 1873 – 3 February 1949) was a Danish timber merchant, brickyard owner and developer.

He graduated from Nørrebros Latin- og realskole in 1889 and was then an apprentice for three years at B. Kromann jr. in Marstal before working first for the textile company v. Barm & Petersen in Flensburg and then for six years for Holger Petersen on Købmagergade in Copenhagen.

In 1918, when World War I had resulted in a shortage of cargo ships, he attracted media attention for converting a delivery of timber from Finland into a gigantic raft, naming it Refanut and towing it to Denmark.

During the economic crisis of the 1920s, Simonsen was stuck with great quantities of timber and bricks that no one wanted to buy.

[2] In 1926, he acquired a large piece of land at Svanemøllen in Copenhagen from the estate of S. N. Meyer.