C. B. HARMAN NICHOLSON

(in Scotland, Harman Nicholson of Balvenie)

8 October 1920 – 24 April 2009

Charles Beck Harman Nicholson, also recognized in Scotland as the Baron of Balvenie, passed away on 24 April 2009 at the age of 88.  A native of Columbus, Georgia, he was a pioneer of the Coca–Cola business in Italy, where he lived for many years.  Having served as Chairman of two subsidiaries of The Coca–Cola Export Corporation in Italy, he retired in Atlanta in 1985 after thirty–nine years of service with the Company.

After joining the Company in New York in 1946, he served as a sales representative in Vienna, Austria and was assigned in 1948 to Milan, Italy where he served in various managerial positions including Deputy General Manager of the Italian Division.  In Milan he was also a Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy and of the American Relief Society.  He also had brief Company assignments in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and in London, England.

Born 8 October 1920 in Columbus, Georgia, the second son of the late Hammond Burke Nicholson, former Chairman of The Coca–Cola Company, and the late Lucia Meetze Harman Nicholson, he was a descendant of Duncan Nicholson, born 1777 in the Hebrides Isles of Scotland.

After attending schools in Atlanta, Toronto and London, the latter at King’s College School and King’s College, University of London, he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts (in English Literature) at Princeton University in 1942.

During World War II, he served in the Army of the United States in Europe and prior to his discharge in 1946 held the rank of Second Lieutenant, QMC and Adjutant in the Seventh Army in Germany.

Following his retirement, he pursued his longtime interest in Scottish matters and he and his late brother, Burke Nicholson of Balvenie, became Founders of the New Museum of Scotland and supporters of the Heraldry Society of Scotland.

Of Scottish ancestry, Mr. Nicholson was active in matters of Scottish heraldry, history and clanship.  As Baron of Balvenie, he was the holder of the ancient Castle of Balvenie in Dufftown, Banffshire.  He was the Archivist to the Chief of the Highland Clan MacNicol, a Founding Member and Director of the Clan MacNicol Society of North America, and a Trustee of Urras Clann MhicNeacail on the Isle of Skye in Scotland where he participated in the purchase and reforestation of the ancestral Clan land on the Isle.  In 2008, he was appointed Chairman of The Highland Clan MacNeacail Federation and became a Chieftain in the Clan.

In Banffshire, Scotland, he was Honorary President of the Dufftown and District Highland Games, Patron of the Dufftown Horticultural Society and a Benefactor of the ancient Mortlach Church there.  In Edinburgh, he was also a Founder of the New Museum of Scotland and a major supporter of the recent restoration of the Thistle Chapel of the Saint Giles Cathedral.

Mr. Nicholson was the Editor of the definitive book of the Clan’s history, The Highland Clan MacNeacail (MacNicol), a History of the Nicolsons of Scorrybreac, co-authored by the now Lord Lyon King of Arms, W. David H. Sellar and the late Dr. Alasdair Maclean.  By his outstanding generosity, he made it possible for every active member of the Clan MacNicol worldwide to receive a complimentary copy of this history, a gift which will continue with all future members of the Clan.

In Atlanta, he played a significant philanthropic role.  He donated the Nicholson Gallery to the new Museum of the Atlanta Historical Society, and was a major contributor to the Olympics Monument at Pershing Point, as well as a patron of the High Museum of Art, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Atlanta Opera.

He was also a member of the Capital City Club in Atlanta, the Princeton Club of New York, the English–Speaking Union and the Churchill Society.  As a Life Member of the President’s Club of Mercer University, he endowed the Nicholson Scholarship for a semester’s study at Oxford University in England.

Mr. Nicholson was an active communicant of St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church where he endowed the Nicholson Hall and the new church organ.

Mr. Nicholson was a bachelor and the third of five brothers and sisters, of whom surviving is Martha Carolyn Nicholson Worley of Sandy Springs.  Deceased are John Hurt Nicholson (Atlanta 1992), Lucia Harman Nicholson Lines (Toronto, Canada 2000), and Hammond Burke Nicholson, Jr. (Atlanta 2007).

He is survived by his nephews and nieces, as well as many great-nephews and great-nieces, living in the United States and Canada, amongst whom are the children of his late brother Burke: H. Burke (Nick) Nicholson III, married to Jo Ann; Jeremy Duncan Nicholson, partnered by Andrea di Montegnacco; and Graham Seaford Nicholson, married to Rebecca (Gay); the children of his sister Carolyn: O. Russell Worley, married to Sharon (living in Houston, Texas), C. Harman Worley, and Robert S. Worley, married to Claudia; the children of his late brother John: R. Burke Nicholson, married to Kerri, Dr. John H. Nicholson, and Dr. William C. Nicholson, married to Maura; and the daughter of his late sister Lucia: Deborah Lines Davison, married to Steven (living in Toronto, Canada). Except as noted, all nephews and nieces reside in the Atlanta metropolitan region.

Funeral arrangements have been made through H. M. Patterson and Son, Spring Hill.

The family will receive friends on Wednesday, April 29 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Patterson’s, 1020 Spring Street NW, Atlanta 30309.  The funeral will be held on Thursday, April 30 at 12:30 p.m. at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, 3110 Ashford Dunwoody Road NE, Atlanta GA 30319, followed by a private family burial at Westview Cemetery.

Atlanta, April 2009