Former Cornell College Trustee Frank Arthur Nichols ’49 died at age 96 on Nov. 18, 2020, in Rochester, Minnesota.Nichols grew up on a farm in northeast Iowa and attended Iowa State University for a year before being drafted into the Army Air Corps. Following military service he took advantage of the GI Bill to complete his undergraduate education at Cornell, majoring in sociology. Nichols returned to Iowa State for a master’s degree in agricultural economics, followed by Yale Divinity School for a master’s of divinity degree. He then pursued a career as a pastoral minister in the Iowa Conference of the Methodist Church. Nichols was pastor of churches in Sheffield, Sibley, Eldora, Clinton, and Davenport, and held leadership administrative positions in Creston and Des Moines. He was a liaison between the Iowa Conference and Iowa’s Methodist-affiliated colleges including Cornell, which he served as a Trustee from 1974–1988.Nichols also served on the executive board of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, allowing him to take trips to developing countries in Africa, Latin and South America, and the Caribbean. In retirement he and Aileen Pfeiffer Nichols ’50 lived in Rochester, Minnesota. Nichols loved to read and enjoyed travel, sailing, classical music, and golf, which he played into his 90s. He and Aileen were married nearly 56 years before her death. After Aileen’s death, Frank married Helen Sanborn ’48 in 2008. He is survived by his wife, Helen, three sons and daughters-in-law—including John M. Nichols ’79 and his wife, Sara Baty Nichols ’83—and six grandchildren.
Nichols grew up on a farm in northeast Iowa and attended Iowa State University for a year before being drafted into the Army Air Corps. Following military service he took advantage of the GI Bill to complete his undergraduate education at Cornell, majoring in sociology.
Nichols returned to Iowa State for a master’s degree in agricultural economics, followed by Yale Divinity School for a master’s of divinity degree. He then pursued a career as a pastoral minister in the Iowa Conference of the Methodist Church. Nichols was pastor of churches in Sheffield, Sibley, Eldora, Clinton, and Davenport, and held leadership administrative positions in Creston and Des Moines. He was a liaison between the Iowa Conference and Iowa’s Methodist-affiliated colleges including Cornell, which he served as a Trustee from 1974–1988.
Nichols also served on the executive board of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, allowing him to take trips to developing countries in Africa, Latin and South America, and the Caribbean.
In retirement he and Aileen Pfeiffer Nichols ’50 lived in Rochester, Minnesota. Nichols loved to read and enjoyed travel, sailing, classical music, and golf, which he played into his 90s. He and Aileen were married nearly 56 years before her death. After Aileen’s death, Frank married Helen Sanborn ’48 in 2008.
He is survived by his wife, Helen, three sons and daughters-in-law—including John M. Nichols ’79 and his wife, Sara Baty Nichols ’83—and six grandchildren.