Olm, Erich Willy (1933–2015)

Erich Willy Olm was an administrator and lawyer from Brazil.

Erich Willy Olm was born on January 11, 1933, in the city of Taquara in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The son of Germano Willy Olm and Erminda Renck Olm, he was raised in an Adventist home along with his siblings Paulo, Ruben, and Ilse. Their grandfather, Ricardo Olm, was an Adventist pioneer missionary who contributed especially to the South region of Brazil.¹

Erich received an Adventist education from elementary to undergraduate levels. He began his education at the Taquara church school and completed middle school at Cruzeiro do Sul Adventist Academy (IACS), also in Taquara. In 1947, he moved to the city of São Paulo so he could enroll in the Accountancy program at Brazil College (today UNASP – SP), graduating in 1949.²

In 1950, Olm began denominational service at the Rio Grande do Sul Conference, at first as an assistant in the printing office and later at the treasury. After five years of work, he decided it was time to form a family and, on February 16, 1955, he married Nádia Kowal in Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. They had four children: Isabel Cristina, Ana Maria (who died two days after birth), Mary Anne, and Carlos Eduardo.³

After about ten years working as a treasurer for the denomination, Erich enrolled at the Theology program at Brazil College in order to increase his ability to serve the Church. In order to provide for his family during this period, Olm resold natural products made by Superbom (an Adventist company producing vegetarian foods).⁴ One of the high points of his theological formation was his engagement in many evangelistic programs such as the school’s Holy Week in 1962, in which he was one of the speakers.⁵

After graduating at the end of 1962, Olm was appointed as treasurer of the Santa Catarina Mission, headquartered in Florianópolis.⁶ He occupied this position for one year before accepting a call to be treasurer of the North Brazil Union Conference in Belém, the capital of Pará, where he served until early 1967. While there, he participated in the creation of the Belém Hospital Health Insurance in 1966.⁷

In 1967, he was appointed as treasurer of the South Brazil Union Conference in the city of São Paulo. On perceiving the need to gain more knowledge on legal issues, he enrolled in law school and began to assist Dr. Franklin Mendonça Porto, director of the Union’s Legal Department. This sector is responsible for the regulatory and administrative aspects of the Adventist organization and orients all Church fields and institutions. In 1968, Porto retired, and Olm was selected to fill that position.⁸

He acquired his law diploma from the Law University of São Bernardo do Campo in 1972. While working at the South Brazil Union, he actively participated in the creation of the Adventist Institute of Jubilation and Retirement (IAJA), which enables the whole system of retirement and health insurances for Adventist church workers. Because of his contact with the country’s pension companies, he was invited to participate in a Social Security course provided by the Spanish government in Madrid, providing instruction to authorities from many countries. He also handled tax law matters in the transference process of the South American Division from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Brasília, Brazil, in 1974.⁹

As director of the Law Department, he visited many Brazilian regions to guide workers from different Adventist institutions. Through congresses and summits - which sometimes gathered treasurers and administrators from the three Brazilian Unions - they studied technical, accounting, and taxation aspects of the Brazilian Adventist Organization as well as the SDA position towards law aspects related to the Church.¹⁰

Olm played an important role in the legal process that resulted in the construction of the second campus of UNASP in Engenheiro Coelho in the state of São Paulo. In July 1983, under the Decree n. 18.891, a big part of Brazil College’s land (800.200 m²) was declared as being of the city’s social interest. In other words, a large part of its farmland would be expropriated and used for public work constructions. The term of agreement was made between City Hall and the South Brazil Union, who were represented by Dr. Olm and Pastor Lauro M. Grellmann.¹¹ In 1983, the resources received from the expropriation were used for buying a farm where UNASP – EC was founded.¹²

In 1990, Olm was appointed as director of the South American Division’s Law Department, which was headquartered in the Federal District of Brasília. In this field, he continued working as a guide in legal issues for SDA leaders in Brazil. For example, in 2004, Dr. Olm and Dr. Misael Lima Barreto organized an event that gathered 32 lawyers who consulted for hospitals, schools, food factories, publishing houses, health insurances, and other Adventist institutions in Brazil in order to share experiences and foster an updated and patterned conduct.¹³

Erich Olm retired after 58 years of dedicated service in December 2008 at the age of 75. On November 13^th, he was honored by church leaders during an SDA summit carried out in Brasília. He spent his retirement years in the city of São Paulo, where he attended the Moema Church and was a Sabbath School teacher. He died on July 20, 2015, at the age of 82, as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest.¹⁴

Erich Olm made a significant contribution to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brazil as a treasurer for missions, conferences, unions, and the South American Division. He drafted statutes and regulations on the functioning of unions, conferences, and the South American Division, duly adjusted to Brazilian legislation. He also helped to establish the legal basis of the Brazilian Creationist Society and to organize pension and health insurances for church employees (IAJA and Proasa).¹⁵ He maintained excellent relations with representatives of other religious denominations and government agencies in the country. He was one of the leaders in the development of SDA legal compliance in Brazil and throughout the territory of the South American Division.¹⁶

Sources

“A Colportagem em Marcha...Grandes Cursos.” Revista Adventista 73, no. 4 (April 1978).

“Advogado da DSA se aposenta após 57 anos de trabalho.” Revista Adventista 104, no. 1207 (January 2009).

“Bienais Sulinas.” Revista Adventista 55, no. 5 (May 1960).

Belz, Rodolpho. “Nótulas do Este.” Revista Adventista 59, no. 12 (December 1964).

“Brasília: Futura Sede da Divisão Sul-Americana.” Revista Adventista 69, no. 6 (June 1974).

“Concílio de Tesoureiros em Itaipava.” Revista Adventista 71, no. 10 (October 1976).

“Daqui e Dali.” Revista Adventista 86, no. 12 (December 1986).

de Souza Valle, Artur. “Manchetes da União Sul-Brasileira.” Revista Adventista 64, no. 01 (January 1969).

de Souza Valle, Artur. “Manchetes da União Sul-Brasileira.” Revista Adventista 65, no. 1 (January 1970).

“DSA promove encontro de advogados.” Revista Adventista 101, no. 12 (December 2006).

“Encontro de Tesoureiros.” Revista Adventista 76, no. 10 (October 1981).

“Encontro reúne assessores jurídicos da Igreja no Brasil.” Revista Adventista 99, no. 11 (November 2004).

“LBA ajuda no Projeto PARE.” Revista Adventista 86, no. 3 (March 1990).

Lisboa, Benedito. “Concilio de Obreiros e Quadrienais na União Norte.” Revista Adventista 60, no. 4 (April 1965).

Melo, Diógenes. “Meu Cantinho.” Revista Adventista 61, no. 01 (January 1966).

Mello, Amilton Luiz. “Pastor Walter Boger.” Monograph, Brazil College Latin-American Adventist Theology Seminary, 1993.

“Memória.” Revista Adventista 110, no. 1301 (September 2015).

“Novas da Colina Iaense.” Revista Adventista 58, no. 2 (February 1963).

“O Último Decreto.” Revista Adventista 78, no. 9 (September 1983).

“Santa Catarina em Festa.” Revista Adventista 58, no. 11 (November 1963).

“Seminários movimentam a USB.” Revista Adventista 92, no. 10 (October 1996).

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Notes

1. Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha, email to Alan Gracioto, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, February 18, 2020.↩

2. Ibid.↩

3. Ibid.↩

4. Ibid.; “Bienais Sulinas,” Revista Adventista 55, no. 5 (May 1960): 25-26; “Novas da Colina Iaense,” Revista Adventista 58, no. 2 (February 1963): 32.↩

5. “Novas da Colina Iaense,” Revista Adventista 58, no. 2 (February 1963): 32-33.↩

6. Ibid.; Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha to Alan Gracioto, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, February 18, 2020; and “Santa Catarina em Festa,” Revista Adventista 58, no. 11 (November 1963): 14.↩

7. “North Brazil Union Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1964), 200; “North Brazil Union Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1967), 207, 358; Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha, email to Alan Gracioto, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, February 18, 2020; Rodolpho Belz, “Nótulas do Este,” Revista Adventista 59, no. 12 (December 1964): 29-30; Benedito Lisboa, “Concilio de Obreiros e Quadrienais na União Norte,” Revista Adventista, 60, no. 4 (April 1965): 20; Diógenes Melo, “Meu Cantinho,” Revista Adventista 61, no. 1 (January 1966): 34.↩

8. Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha, email to Alan Gracioto, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, February 18, 2020; Artur de Souza Valle, “Manchetes da União Sul-Brasileira,” Revista Adventista 64, no. 1 (January 1969): 29; Artur de Souza Valle, “Manchetes da União Sul-Brasileira,” Revista Adventista 65, no. 1 (January 1970): 27-28.↩

9. Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha, email to Alan Gracioto, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, February 18, 2020; “Brasília: Futura Sede da Divisão Sul-Americana,” Revista Adventista 69, no. 6 (June 1974): 20; “Memória,” Revista Adventista 110, no. 1301 (September 2015): 37.↩

10. “Concílio de Tesoureiros em Itaipava,” Revista Adventista 71, no. 10 (October 1976): 11-12; “A Colportagem em Marcha...Grandes Cursos,” Revista Adventista 73, no. 4 (April 1978): 27-28; “Encontro de Tesoureiros,” Revista Adventista 76, no. 10 (October 1981): 20; “Daqui e Dali,” Revista Adventista 86, no. 12 (December 1986): 33; “LBA ajuda no Projeto PARE,” Revista Adventista 86, no. 3 (March 1990): 24.↩

11. “O Último Decreto,” Revista Adventista 78, no. 9 (September 1983): 21.↩

12. Amilton Luiz Mello, “Pastor Walter Boger” (Monograph, Brazil College Latin-American Adventist Theology Seminary, 1993), 12-13.↩

13. “Encontro reúne assessores jurídicos da Igreja no Brasil,” Revista Adventista 99, no. 11 (November 2004): 24; “Seminários movimentam a USB,” Revista Adventista 92, no. 10 (October 1996): 36; “DSA promove encontro de advogados,” Revista Adventista 101, no. 12 (December 2006): 26.↩

14. “Advogado da DSA se aposenta após 57 anos de trabalho,” Revista Adventista 104, no. 1207 (January 2009): 36; “Memória,” Revista Adventista 110, no. 1301 (September 2015): 37; Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha to Alan Gracioto, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, February 18, 2020.↩

15. “Memória,” Revista Adventista 110, no. 1301 (September 2015): 37.↩

16. Ibid.; Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha, email to Alan Gracioto, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, February 18, 2020.↩