His elder brother Lars Svendsen Oftedal (1838 –1900) was a Norwegian priest and social reformer.
August Weenaas, Augsburg's first president, had recruited both Sven Oftedal and Georg Sverdrup from Norway to join the faculty.
[8][9] In 1877, Sven Oftedal organized the Folkebladet Publishing Company which would merge in 1922 with the Free Church Book Concern.
Additionally, Oftedal served as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis for five years.
Oftedal died in 1911 and his widow in 1926; both were laid to rest at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.