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Rich Nicholls was born September 6, 1948, in Southgate, Michigan. He moved to Allen Park in 1955, attended Allen Park High School and graduated in 1966. He joined the Marine Historical Society of Detroit in 1968, after meeting several MHSD members at Belanger Park, River Rouge, Michigan. He attended Henry Ford Community College, transferring to the University of Michigan and graduating with a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in 1970.

During his two summers at the U of M, he sailed on the Great Lakes, one with Ford Motor Co. on the steamers JOHN DYKSTRA and ROBERT S. MC NAMARA. The second summer he was on the Wilson Transit steamer B.F. JONES, serving in the engine room.

 

He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, attended Officer Candidate School at Yorktown, Virginia, and won a sword for being first in his class in navigation. Assigned to Governors Island, New York, for his service.

 

During his three years in the Coast Guard he attended Stevens Institute of
Technology, earning a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
After his Coast Guard service, he worked at Westinghouse Oceanic Division
in Annapolis, Maryland. He finally got back to the lakes when he took a job
at Marine Consultants & Designers in Cleveland, Ohio. While in Cleveland he
received an MBA from Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. He took a job at Bell Aerospace in Buffalo, New York, and visited the Welland Canal often during this time.

He moved back to the Cleveland area and worked at Northeast Technical
Services, Columbia Station, Ohio, where he was chief naval architect and marine
engineer. He is retired and lives in Westlake, Ohio.