Robert E. Nichols | |
---|---|
Born | 1925 Daytona Beach, Florida, US |
Died | (aged 71) San Francisco, California, US |
Nationality (legal) | American |
Occupation | journalist |
Employers | |
Organization | SABEW |
Awards | Gerald Loeb Award |
Robert E. Nichols (1925 – September 30, 1996) was a business journalist known for his work as the financial editor of The Los Angeles Times and as president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He received two Gerald Loeb Awards. His professional memberships included Sigma Delta Chi and the National Society of Art Directors.[1]
Nichols was born in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1925.[2][3] He moved to California in 1926, where he grew up.[1] He attended San Diego State College, St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, and George Washington University.[1]
Nichols spent his early career working in Washington, D.C., for the New York Herald Tribune as a national labor correspondent, and CBS as a network correspondent and documentary specialist.[1] He worked for Time, Inc., in New York City as contributing editor for business and finance and the special assistant to the director of corporate special projects.[1]
He returned to California in 1953 to work as the Sunday editor of the San Diego Union.[1] At the same time, he was a correspondent for Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, Architectural Forum, and House & Home magazines.[1] In 1955, he received an honorary mention from the California Newspaper Publishers Association Awards for a series on development in the Southwestern United States.[4]
Nichols moved to the Los Angeles Times in 1961 to be the financial editor, replacing Harold Walsh who left to join EF Hutton as regional director of corporate research.[1] Nichols was a key figure in expanding the financial section and shifting the focus from local to primarily national coverage.[3][5] He received a Gerald Loeb special achievement award in 1963 for a series on Howard Hughes' business empire and his court fight with Trans World Airlines.[6] He won another Gerald Loeb award the following year for the series "The Price of Security" that provides an in-depth examination of the space and defense industries and their relationship to the California and national economies.[7]
Nichols helped found the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW).[3] He helped formulate SABEW's code of ethics, was elected treasurer in 1966, and was elected the third president of the organization in 1967.[3][8][9]
In 1968, Nichols left the Times to be a special assistant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for two years.[5]
Nichols joined Bank of America in 1970 as the director of editorial services at the bank's headquarters in San Francisco.[2] He became the director of public relations in 1973.[5] During his tenure, he strongly advocated for the bank to release a voluntary disclosure code, which it did in 1976 – the first in the financial services industry.[2][10] Nichols retired in 1985.[2]
Nichols and his wife Diana had three children – daughters Robin and Kim, and son Craig.[2]
Nichols died in San Francisco, California, on September 30, 1996, from liver cancer.[2]