He was born in Bergen as a son of ship-owner Kristian Jebsen (1901–1967) and Sissi Kjerland (1904–1993).
[1] He finished his secondary education in 1944, and after the Second World War he worked for the Allied United Maritime Authority in London until 1946.
He then studied at Columbia University until 1948 when he took the bachelor's degree in Business Administration.
He worked in New York and London before being hired in the family company Kristian Jebsens Rederi in 1953.
Kristian Gerhard Jebsen moved back to Great Britain in 1993 and died in London in February 2004.