James "Jay" Nickson

James Bridges ("Jay") Nickson passed on July 1, 2015 in Grand Forks, ND. He was born March 22, 1945 in Chicago, IL, son of Dr. James J. Nickson and Dr. Margaret Hofrichter Nickson. Jay grew up in London and New York, and attended college at Dartmouth, Reed and graduated from the University of Alabama-Birmingham. A talented software designer and engineer, he began working for IBM in 1965, and subsequently worked at Digital Equipment Corporation and various other technology firms in the Northeast U.S. Several software products he designed won product of the year awards from industry magazines. He came to UND in 2009 and worked as a Programmer at the School of Aerospace Sciences. He was also the inventor of systems and methods for semantic URL handling that was awarded a patent in 2014. James was a motorcycle enthusiast, avid swimmer and early SCUBA diver. A voracious reader and intellect, at UND, he dedicated himself to the study of philosophy and took many courses with the Philosophy Department. A kind man with a big heart and big soul, he is survived by his brother, Professor Robert Nickson, of New York University, brother Michael Nickson, sister-in-law Julie and niece Catherine of Arlington, VA, and cousins Tanya DeMarsh Dodson, Judy DeMarsh and Walter DeMarsh of Seattle WA. A memorial reception to honor Jay will be held at the North Dakota Museum of Art on Friday, November 6 from 4:00-6:00 PM. Donations in Jay's memory may be made to the UND Institute for Philosophy in Public Life, where Jay was a board member. http://www.philosophyinpubliclife.org/