Deerfield Obituary: Keith Nickoley, 93

Keith D. Nickoley, longtime resident of Deerfield and Bannockburn, Illinois, former Chairman, President and CEO of Roberts and Porter, Inc., and retired Graphic Arts Consultant, died Saturday, January 31st at the age of 93, in Overland Park, Kansas, surrounded by family at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, after fighting a long and valiant battle with dementia.

Born on September 30, 1927, in Libertyville, Illinois, to William and Emma Nickoley, Keith learned early in life the value of love and spending time with family and friends, which he shared with so many others throughout his long and wonderful life. His childhood memories included visits to the family farms of Central Kansas where his mother grew up, looking up to his beloved older brother Ken, surviving the Depression with very little, delivering magazines to earn enough to buy his own bicycle, a pair of socks, shoes and one toy at each Christmas, bagging groceries, caddying rounds of golf, and setting up the pins at the local bowling alley for 10 cents a game.

After graduating from Libertyville High School in 1945, Keith left home to begin college at the University of Illinois. This was short-lived because WWII, although in its final year, was still in need of soldiers. Keith was drafted into the Navy, then sent to San Francisco where he sailed out under the sweeping span of the Golden Gate Bridge and onward to Japan. His insatiable curiosity and love for travel began on this journey. Chipping paint from the ship’s sides and repainting them, galley work peeling potatoes, and stints in the laundry were not enough to diminish his interest. When finally, being relieved of his military duties, he returned to college life, this time attending Lake Forest College, while living at home in Libertyville and figuring out how to get to class on time without a car. His long legs were extremely useful. Keith played varsity basketball and was a member of Digamma Alpha Upsilon fraternity.

After graduating in 1949 with a B.A. in Economics, Keith was hired as a sales trainee and office clerk at Roberts and Porter, Inc. of Chicago, a printing and graphic arts supplies company. Not long after, at a fortuitous meetup with a couple of buddies at a bar, Keith met his future wife, Jean Baldwin. Thinking she was his friend’s cute date, he was most pleased to discover she was actually his younger sister. Keith and Jean were married in 1952, had their first of four daughters a year later, and happily spent the next 33 years raising them in Deerfield and Bannockburn, IL. Keith and Jean were avid golfers, curlers, and tennis players, served on various boards and committees in the community and schools, and enjoyed traveling together whenever their busy work and family lives allowed.

During his notable and long career at Roberts and Porter, his hard work, vision, and a talent for bringing out the best in others, catapulted him from a sales representative to Chairman-President and Chief Executive Officer, with offices and manufacturing facilities extending across the United States. After his career with Roberts and Porter, he continued on in the industry as a Graphic Arts Consultant. Business trips around the world were often supplemented with time for side travels wherever he was, and were made even more memorable when accompanied by his spouse or one, or more, of his girls. Keith was a member of various organizations in the industry, including the Printing United Alliance (fka GATF), the National Association of Printers and Lithographers, Rand McNally 25 Club, and Ben Franklin Society of Fellows through GATF.

In 1990, Keith married Kitten White of Bannockburn, and his gaggle of four girls quickly expanded to seven. Weddings were abundant and by 2002, they had managed to successfully pull off a total of seven. Kitten and Keith enjoyed their years together in Bannockburn; Sanibel, Florida, and Northern Wisconsin. With a mutual love for traveling abroad and throughout the United States, they had a penchant for figuring out how they wanted to experience their destinations and had a preference to travel by car as much as possible.

Keith was preceded in death by his wife Jean, parents, William and Emma, his brother Ken, and many other family members and dear friends. He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Katherine (Kitten) Nickoley; his daughters with his late wife Jean, nee Baldwin, Lynn (Kevin) Axe, Jill (John) Tidrick, Jan Nickoley, and Sally (Brett) Hettrick; step-daughters, Megan (Eric) White, Nancy (David) Curry, and Katy (Tommy) Gajewicz; his grandchildren Jack, Peter, Molly, Nick, Daisy, Ben, Michael, Nicole, Henry, Campbell, Trey and Kaitlyn; and great-grandchildren James, Julianne, Lucy, Rosemary and Revan.

The unconditional love he has always expressed for his family and friends, mighty bear hugs, huge smiles, hearty infectious laugh, warmth, generosity, spontaneous singing, goofy dance moves, card playing, postcard writings from every corner of the globe, and his adventurous passion for travel and the people he met around the world, was a gift and an inspiration to all who knew him.

A special thank you is given for the care provided by Kansas City Hospice, Always There Healthcare, RNS Private Duty Care and Care Haven Homes. In lieu of flowers, Keith’s family requests donations be made in his memory to one of the following organizations Keith was so passionate about: Printing United Alliance (fka Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) 10015 Main St., Fairfax, VA 22031; Lake Forest College (https://www.lakeforest.edu/giving); and the Alzheimer’s Association (https://act.alz.org)

This obituary was produced by the Nickoley family. The views expressed here are the author's own.