Olaf Robert Saugen who was born in Oslo, Norway on February 16, 1938, moved to Sacramento upon his retirement in 1986, passed away Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville. He had emigrated to the US and became a citizen in 1976.

Enjoying reading, music, photography and gardening he lived a quiet life in his retirement.

As a young man he had written news articles for a small local weekly newspaper, the beginning of a lifelong career as a newspaper man. He later became the managing editor of an Oslo daily and, after his arrival in the US, went to work for the Philadelphia-based Germantown Courier and later for the Philadelphia Inquirer, first as a copy editor and later as a department editor.

He was appointed Director of Advanced Systems for the Inquirer and the Daily News in 1975, charged with managing the installation and implementation of computerized production of both newspapers, several years before this technology became commonplace in large metropolitan newspapers.
He subsequently worked for Boston-based Atex Publishing which manufactured such systems for newspapers worldwide and later for California-based Newsmaker systems for television news systems.

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 8 years old Saugen battled with managing the disease for the rest of his life. When discussing it with other diabetics he would say "You can manage your diabetes or have your diabetes manage you." He received the Joslin diabetes Center's 50 year Certificate of Achivement in 1996 and receive the institute's 75-year bronze medal in 2021.

There are no survivors.

There will be no services.

Burial will be in St. Paul's Cemetery, Sacramento, PA.

Buffington-Reed Funeral Home, Valley View, is in charge of arrangements.

Condolences can be left at www.buffingtonreed.com