Charles was born on July 26, 1931 in Clintwood, VA, to Nick (Charles Sr.) and Virginia (Cole) Nickolaus. Charles Jr. was the second of four children. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree and planned to become a physician. However, the Army had other ideas and he was drafted into service in October 1952. He served in the Army as a boiler maker and won the respect of his superiors with his knowledge and skills. He was a sergeant at the time of his discharge in 1954. After the Army, Charles attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pursuing a master’s degree in Chemistry. He completed his studies there in 1958.
Charles accepted a position as a flavor chemist with UST (US Tobacco) in 1958 in Nashville, TN. While working at UST he met Myra Jackson. On November 26, 1960, Charles and Myra married in Nashville. They spent their honeymoon driving a trailer to Chicago where Charles was living after being transferred there by UST to start their lab.
While living in Chicago, Charles and Myra had three children: Melanie, Delia and Charles III (Nick). In 1981, UST transferred Charles and his family back to Nashville. Charles stayed with UST until 1997 when he retired but continued on as a consultant until 2003.
Charles pursued his hobby of lapidary, collecting many interesting rocks along the journey. He was always interested in flavor chemistry and was known for making his own vanilla. He was also known for his penchant to distill spirits in closets when he was young and other mischievous stunts. Charles was known for his benevolence to people and issues. He was a great supporter of Berea College as well as the Frontier Nursing University. He worked hard to provide for his family and learn new things every day.
Charles was preceded in death by his father, Charles (Nick) Sr.; his mother, Virginia; and his older brother, Andrew. He is survived by his wife Myra; his younger brother John Nickolaus; his younger sister Ruth (Nickolaus) White and her husband Bill; his eldest daughter Melanie (Nickolaus) Mahathy and her husband Joel; his younger daughter Delia Nickolaus; his son Charles (Nick) Nickolaus III, Nick’s wife Holly (Meyers) Nickolaus and their son Noah; and his grand-dog Pippa.
