In Memoriam
Robert H. Nichols
Robert H. Nichols, a prominent labor union lawyer, died Friday, November 22, 2013, after battling cancer for a year and a half.
Robert Nichols
1963 graduation
Bob lived the bulk of his adult life in the Kenwood area of Chicago, where he and his long-time wife Jean Christy Nichols raised their four children, Marc, Seth, Ethan, and Rebecca . The Nichols divorced recently after more than 40 years of marriage. Jean was a school teacher in the Chicago Public School System and one of the pioneers of the Head Start program in the mid-’60s. Bob was a graduate of the Harvard School for Boys in Chicago, where he was a high-scoring forward on the basketball team, making the All-State small school squad in his senior year. At Yale, a knee injury cut short his basketball career, causing him to switch to the lightweight crew.
After graduation from Yale, Bob spent a year in San Francisco, earning a certificate in public affairs from the Coro Foundation and whetting his interests in public service and the labor movement. After earning a law degree at the University of Chicago in 1966, Bob joined the well-known union-side law firm of Cotton, Watt, Jones and King. During his career there, he represented various locals of the Meat Packers Union and the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA). Bob became an expert on airline merger and seniority list integration issues. He was most proud of the litigation he helped mount that won for the first time female flight attendants’ right to continue to fly after marriage.
When his law firm dissolved in 1995, Bob went to work full-time at ALPA ultimately becoming its senior staff person for the United Pilots. These were contentious and troubled times, culminating in United’s descent into bankruptcy between 2002 and 2006, which resulted in steep wage cuts and loss of pensions for the pilots. Bob also played a key role in United’s subsequent merger with Continental, helping to win a decent collective bargaining agreement for the pilots and achieve seniority integration of the two pilot groups. "Trying to get a bunch of pilots to agree on anything isn’t like herding a bunch of cats – it’s more like taming a bunch of mountain lions," points out Jonathan Laing, Senior Editor for Barron’s and Bob’s brother- in- law.
Bob was respected by management negotiators for the fairness and pragmatism of his advocacy. Bob was an avid sailor for more than four decades, sailing out of Monroe Street Harbor in Chicago. He also liked to spend time in his summer home in New Hampshire.
Ed Walsh recalls that Bob was the driving force behind his attendance at the 50th Reunion. Ed adds: "I suspect that his desire to attend the Reunion kept him going after his diagnosis."
Perhaps a posting on the ALPA website summed up Bob’s life most succinctly:
"Bob was a great lawyer, a good friend and a big, humorous, engaging personality with lots of interests."