Nathan Nickerson

Nathan “Nate” Nickerson, 69, of Portland, Maine passed away at home surrounded by his family on Thursday May 14, 2026.

Nate was born and raised in Bedford, MA. One of the formative experiences of his childhood was helping care for his older brother Danny, who suffered from a degenerative neuromuscular disorder. This made him keenly aware of our calling to “be our brother’s keeper,” set the stage for his life of service, and seeded his commitment to honoring the dignity of all people, including and especially those most vulnerable.

After his graduation from Tufts University, Nate worked at Boston’s Pine Street Inn shelter for homeless men in a variety of capacities, including as coordinator of a Nurses Clinic. There he met the love of his life (and eventually wife of 44 ½ years), Nancy.

Nate launched and co-administered the Parker Street Shelter before leaving Boston with Nancy and several friends to live communally in Washington County, Maine. Nate and Nancy welcomed their first daughter, Amara, two years later and then moved to Portland where Nate completed nursing school at USM. The birth of their second daughter, Rory, coincided with Nate becoming a nurse practitioner in 1989. He continued working with folks experiencing homelessness and was hired to lead the development of a new clinic in Portland that would manage health care services for homeless and low-income, uninsured individuals. Nate grew this into Portland’s Healthcare for the Homeless program, and received numerous awards from local, state, and national organizations for his work establishing substance abuse services, mental health services, needle exchange programs, and HIV-treatment initiatives focused on reaching people who use injection drugs.

In 2001 an opportunity to travel to Cap Haitien Haiti presented itself, and Nate began to turn his sights to working in public health in a new way. He attended graduate school at Boston University from 2004 to 2007, earning a doctoral degree in International Public Health. During that time he had been volunteering with a fledgling Portland-based non-profit organization whose aim was to improve health access for the community of Cap Haitien, Haiti. For the last 25 years of his life Nate worked with this new organization, Konbit Sante, as its Executive Director for 15 years, and more recently in a volunteer capacity as its Strategic Advisor. Nate was compelled by the level of need he witnessed and inspired by the example of his Haitian colleagues to stand steadfastly, “shoulder to shoulder” with the people of Cap-Haitien. Together with health care providers in Haiti, Nate dedicated his time and energy to solving problems, procuring supplies and equipment, and supporting life-giving programs. For him, his work in Haiti wasn’t a job, it was a vocation. He spent hours learning to speak Creole, and for at least a decade lived about six months of the year in Haiti. He became a respected member of the community in Cap-Haitian and treasured the fact that his colleagues and friends there considered him an honorary Haitian. He built trust (in Haiti and throughout his life) by showing up over and over again with humility, a willingness to listen, and unwavering determination.

Over the course of his career, Nate’s expertise, wisdom, and integrity were widely recognized, and he served on numerous public health committees, including the Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS under George W. Bush.

Nate’s notable accomplishments illustrated and were eclipsed by his memorable character traits, especially his compassion, intellect, wisdom, and tenacity (AKA stubbornness), to name a few. He was a devoted Dad and “Bapu;” love, care, guidance and fun were the hallmarks of the life he shared with his daughters and grandchildren. In addition to his capacity for service, Nate developed an impressive list of skills and interests. He built and repaired family camps, earning a reputation as “the man who can fix anything”, and made time to enjoy music, play bass, hike, kayak, build 3 cedar strip canoes, bicycle, and take his wife and daughters on motorcycle adventures all across North America. He developed a reputation for finding quality used goods and loved to say, “You can go first class if you go secondhand.” He completed the New York Times crossword puzzle daily (extending his streak to 900+ in a row in his final days) and cheered on the Boston Celtics with his family.

His rich life cannot be adequately summarized in these few paragraphs, nor can the magnitude of the impact he made, nor the size of the hole in the hearts of those of us who knew him best.

Nate will be sorely missed by his family and a large community of friends and colleagues in Portland and Haiti.

Donations to honor his memory can be made to Konbit Sante and Preble Street Resource Center.

A Celebration of Life to honor Nate will be held on Sunday June 7, from 2 PM to 6 PM, at Camp Ketcha, Scarborough. This will consist of mingling and memory-sharing at 2 PM, a service at 3:30 PM, and sharing a meal at 5 PM.

Arrangements are under the direction of the new Conroy-Tully Walker Cremation, Funeral and Gathering Center, 300 Allen Avenue, Portland. To view Nate’s memorial page or to share an online condolence, please visit www.ConroyTullyWalker.com.