Jane Todd Nichols Fogg

Jane lived 93 years engaged in life through art, intellect, family, and community. After a very brief illness and held by love from family and friends, she died in peace. Her wish to live life fully, with independence and intention, was realized.

Jane was born to Mary and Arthur Nichols in Waltham, MA. Her father ran the family factory, the W.H. Nichols Company, known for precision manufacturing by successfully developing production capabilities for IBM, DuPont, and other companies. In 1941, the factory operated around the clock to support the war effort, and Jane’s mother volunteered as a nurse’s aide at their local hospital. Jane documented these experiences for her children, highlighting the significance of contributing to and supporting the community. The Nichols family was deeply involved in the community, including the Waltham Hospital, fostering values of giving and empathy that Jane maintained throughout her life. The eldest of three, she excelled in school and sport, reading voraciously and playing baseball in her neighborhood. She said she outgrew her local school – needing more challenge in her studies and was sent to Holten-Arms School in Washington D.C and later graduated from Smith College in 1954. After college she moved to Akron, Ohio, working at the Toledo Museum of Art as a docent and teaching classes. She decided to become an artist. In 1958 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to West Germany for painting and printmaking. Letters from her time there describe a vibrant experience in post WWII Germany. In1961, she married George Parsons Fogg III, eventually settling in their home in Chestnut Hill where she lived from 1967 to 2026. She raised two daughters who knew to find their mother in her studio, at the easel. She was never without a sketch pad, watercolors, or paintbox. Her young life, motherhood, and later years all documented in oil, watercolor, charcoal, and pencil. She took classes at the local university and developed friendships with a cadre of artists whose paintings adorned her walls alongside her own pieces. As she became a grandmother, and then great grandmother, she relished the emerging personalities of each child– always eager to see who they would become, what their passions might be. With consistency and grace, she supported each person’s individual path and interests, never imposing her will or beliefs but forever curious and supportive. She read daily, literature and current events, and instilled a love of prose and poetry in her daughters. A member of the Church of Redeemer for decades, she drove to Sunday services, her weekly volunteering, and bible study where she found a forum to wonder, to question, and to feed her faith.

She is predeceased by her husband, George P Fogg III, and her siblings Louise Botero and Latham Nichols. She is deeply missed by her family- daughter Harriet Leonard and husband Charles, granddaughters Bethany DeCollibus and husband Chris, Julia Thompson and husband Jon; daughter Jane Flagler Fogg and husband Daniel Schleifer, grandsons Maxwell and Arthur Schleifer. Three great grandchildren were fortunate to be held by her, Emma and Jack DeCollibus, and Eloise Jane Thompson.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Epiphany School, Boston, MA or the Charles River Watershed Association, Boston, MA.

A celebration of life will be held at The Church of the Redeemer in the spring when the daffodils emerge.