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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > December > 17 > Entry
R.I.P. Jim Nichols
Word came to the newsroom this morning that one of our old friends and longtime colleagues, Jim Nichols, died yesterday at age 89. Here’s the obit.
Jim was a fixture in the newsroom the DDN left behind back at our original building at Fourth and Ludlow streets in downtown Dayton. He never made the move to our tidy new Media Center on South Main Street, but I don’t think he would’ve been very happy here anyway. He was, as anybody who knew him knew, a downtown Dayton guy.
In fact, the rhythm and pulse of downtown, its ups and downs over the decades, were Jim’s life and the underpinnings of his career in journalism. He came to be known as “Mr. Downtowner,” after the name of the publication that he edited and wrote for for many years, a tabloid that chronicled downtown news and events.
Nichols wrote for that and for the DDN for decades. Even after he officially retired, he still came to the features department newsroom on the fifth floor every day for years. He diligently typed his column and made phone calls to bar owners, band leaders and restaurateurs who all knew that Nichols wanted more than anything to let his many readers know what was going on in their joints.
He knew the history of the city as well as anybody. He could tell you what business had been in a certain storefront 10, 20 or 30 years ago, and knew the names of the owners and the guys who worked in the front. He knew stories about fighters, crooks, musicians and sportsmen. He knew cops, judges and crooks, and where they all ended up.
He ate lunch most days at the great Moraine Embassy, a lunch-counter restaurant with Greek flair that’s still open on Ludlow next to our old building. He spent most evenings after work at the Trolley Stop, where owner Robin Sassenberg was a good friend who helped take care of him in his old age, and where he liked to watch the comings and goings of folks who all stopped by to say hello to “Nick.”
He regretted that downtown had deteriorated to the state it’s at today from what he recalled in its heyday — but unlike many other people, he never hated it and never, ever gave up on it. He kept telling its tales and spotlighted its good points as well as he could, and even became a promoter of downtown events in his own right — founding and organizing the free music festivals at Dave Hall Plaza each summer that bring reggae, blues and Women in Jazz. What would downtown be like without them?
Nichols could be a little grouchy, as he got older, about changes to his copy, and he got a bit impatient sometimes with younger folks in the newsroom who did things differently from the ways he knew. I suppose that’s your right, after a certain point, and Nichols stuck around for so many years that he passed many, many milestones that others in ours or any business never reach.
He was neat guy. I wish I’d known him when he was younger, stronger, and more vigorous. I learned a lot from him, and that’s one of the best things I can say about anybody.
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Comments
By Lisa Tettman-Edwards
January 7, 2009 2:52 PM | Link to this
Jim Nichols was indeed Dayton’s Champion. I feel honored to be one of many people to have had Jim as a mentor and dear friend. Since we first met in 1978, he wrote many articles that not only helped my musical career, but also encouraged me throughout our 30-year friendship. Looking back, his write-ups were always positive, generous and perhaps a bit embellished on how well I sang and played. It was wonderful to have such critiques, but I also knew that in trying to get people to come and hear me, he was getting people to come to “Downtown Dayton”… He was always promoting the city he loved. Jim was instrumental in my getting gigs, keeping me updated as to what was going on in and around town, and years later encouraged a local ad agency to give me a job when I decided to quit the business. One phone call from Jim Nichols and I had a job. He knew everybody. I will fondly remember our lunches at The Embassy, our conversations of family, friends, The Downtowner Magazine, Women in Jazz, his war experience, and what was happening in town. Jim Nichols was not only Dayton’s Champion… but mine as well.By null
December 18, 2008 7:02 AM | Link to this
Did you serve with Jim in the military?By Dan Bayer
December 17, 2008 11:15 PM | Link to this
What a great guy & such a wonderful ambassador & advocate for our City & more particularily, downtown. Even though I did not know him I will miss seeing his always smiling face in the paper and his constant upbeat & positive articles about our downtown. Another one of those great folks that God “broke the mold” on…who can never be replaced. A sad day for “our” Downtown.By Tim Gaffney
December 17, 2008 3:26 PM | Link to this
Jim was also a World War II veteran who flew transport planes in Africa and in the China, Burma and India regions, and a private pilot for many years after. He knew many good stories, and they got better with each telling.