Nicole Renee Tanguy

Nicole Renée Tanguy, a life well Lived!

Our very dear sister, aunt, cousin, friend, colleague, lawyer, tax reporting guru, photographer, animal lover, tennis enthusiast, gardener, and world traveler, Nicole Renée Tanguy passed away on January 4, 2022. Her giant generous spirit and contagious gusto will be missed by so very many.

Nicole was the eldest of four children of Denis René Tanguy and Mary Jane McNair Tanguy. Born June 16, 1950 in Houston, Texas, she remained very proud of her Texas heritage as well as her French heritage. Her Dad, Denis was born in Brittany France and immigrated to the US after WWII. Nicole is survived by her three siblings, Steve (Susan), Judy, and Audrey (Jim), her seven nephews and nieces: Troy (Lis), Denis, Stuart, David, Sarah (Shawn), Adrienne, Alicia (James), and three great-nephews: Penn, Ryder, Ian, and one great-niece: Emily. Never to marry, Nicole also embraced as her own the Rhodes family and her High School best friend Lilli and Lilli’s twins Air and Lisa.

Most of Nicole’s youth was spent growing up in Texas. She was a serious student and her youthful dedication to learning would become an intrinsic part of her lifetime. She loved being on the water. The family would go boating every weekend and spend summer vacations by the Gulf of Mexico, fishing, crabbing, swimming. These early boating experiences inspired her to be a sailing adventurer: enjoying vessels large and small including being aboard the Tall Ships when they sailed into New York Harbor during 1976 Operation Sail. In high school she became interested in football. The Memorial Mustangs were the powerhouse of the Spring Branch Texas School District. In the summer before her senior year, Denis Tanguy was transferred to his company’s New York City operations and the family resettled in Darien, Connecticut. There Nicole met her lifelong friend Lilli Rhodes. Eager to see what Darien football was all about, Lilli took her to the High School Field. Nicole thought Lilli was joking, that at best it looked like a practice field! Nicole applied herself at her new school graduating in 1968 7th in her class.

Nicole’s aspiration was to go to Duke but her Dad would have none of this. He wanted her to be protected and insisted on a Catholic affiliated school. So, Nicole went instead to Mt. Holyoke (Denis was not aware it was not Catholic affiliated!). At Mt. Holyoke she received her AB in political science. She interned a summer in DC with a junior congressman, and took a semester at Dartmouth.

These experiences revealed that a breadth of opportunities would be open to her as a lawyer. She pursued this dream at Fordham Law achieving her JD in 1978 and was admitted to the New York bar in 1979, beginning a 42-year legal career. Her learning never stopped. In 1984 she earned her LLM (Master of Laws) at NYU, and was a NYU Stern Scholar.

Her legal career began at Hawkins, Delafield, & Wood (1978-1982), followed by two years at Shearman & Sterling, then Salomon Brothers (1984). There she stayed, through the organization's many name changes until her retirement in 2017 as Director and Tax Counsel with Citigroup Inc. Driven to learn ever more increasingly complex and intricate aspects of the law, she became a sought-after tax expert specializing in the arena of information reporting. She provided tax advice to assist Citi’s global customer base. She was the designated expert on Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”). She served on and chaired the Tax Compliance and Administration Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). She also served on and chaired IRPAC’s (Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee) subcommittee on Legislation and Regulatory Analysis. A colleague described Nicole’s ability as: she could write a legal memo with the most finely crafted language that it was never subject to question. She would become a sought-after speaker at industry conferences and was called to testify before Congress (in closed session only, said Nicole!).

As a teen in Darien, Connecticut, she fell in love with New York City. She planned that she would be a “City Girl”. It took all of Nicole’s persuading and cajoling and promising to be safe to gain her father’s approval to get her first NYC shared flat on east 72nd street after college graduation. A few moves later she settled in Chelsea. Like so many, 9/11 wrought chaos in her world. On that horrific day, she and Lilli had plans to see the opening of a friend's art exhibit. Instead of being in the subway on the way to her office at #7 World Trade Center, Nicole was taking her beloved Clifford to Doggie Spa for the day when the first plane hit. She and her friend watched the day’s events unfold in horror from the rooftop of Nicole’s Chelsea co-op. In the Aftermath, with her office building and years of work destroyed, Nicole wanted to help in any way she could. She washed firemen’s boots. These were the boots worn by the NYCFD working the pile. She also did pet rescue for the pets whose owners didn’t come home.

Despite the tragedy of 9/11, Nicole’s love affair with NYC was constant. She so enjoyed the many fine restaurants, Broadway productions, American Ballet Theatre, the Long Island SandBar Beach Club and along the way became a collector of fine wines. A treat she would offer to her nieces and nephews was “come to New York, let me show you my town!” A treat her first great-nephew Penn experienced with her in Summer of 2021.

Perhaps it was living in New York City, home to the US Open Grand Slam Tennis Tournament, perhaps it was her good friend from Long Island, perhaps it was playing tennis with her Dad... Whatever its origins, Nicole became an avid tennis fan. Combined with her love of travel and France, Nicole made sure she attended her idol Rafa Nadal’s 10th French Open Final victory at Roland Garros in 2017.

Nicole had many passions, tax law, New York City, tennis, fine dining and fine wines. She was also an avid traveler and photographer. Her travels took her to her father’s French homeland; Machu Picchu; Costa Rica; the Galapagos; China (twice) to see the Terracotta Warriors; Tibet where she climbed to an elevation of 17,900 feet; Cambodia; Africa where she witnessed the Serengeti Migration and, with total glee, photographed her first lion pride; the Greek Isles aboard the sailing vessel Sea Cloud; Rome; and Yellowstone National Park in Winter. Her admiration for photography drew her to the work of Eliot Porter and Ralph Lee Hopkins. She would gladly photograph her friends and family pivotal events. It would be rare to see Nicole without a camera lens nearby.

One of her favorite subjects could be found much closer to home: her beautiful Golden Retriever. While the family always had cats growing up, Nicole so wanted a dog. First she wanted a St. Bernard. The bigger the better. Yet she fell in love with Goldens and would become the owner of both Clifford the Big Red Dog and Goodtimes Bonnie Blue Bailey. Unfortunately, canine cancer claimed both these animals and Nicole became a strong supporter of the Morris Animal Foundation that does a breadth of animal research with a specialty in cancers affecting golden retrievers.

Nicole had a tender and generous heart. She lived life with unparalleled enthusiasm. She set high standards and pressed herself to learn and to be better in her field of tax law. She cherished family and friends and delighted in holiday gatherings. She would say to us all “let’s drink a fine bottle of wine!”

It is with the heaviest of hearts we will say goodbye to her on January 19th. Her spirit will remain with us forever. She will be missed!