Alameda
County
Biographies
REX L.
NICHOLSON
Rex L
Nicholson, owner and manager of Pacific Tractor and Implement Company, and
president of Columbia Tractor and Implement Company, was born in Calhoun
County, Texas, on March 14, 1902. Son of Absolom
H. and Rebecca J. (Daily) Nicholson. He studied Structural Engineering
at Chicago Technical College, class of ’26.
Mr. Nicholson grew up on a large
cattle ranch near Amarillo, Texas. Affiliated with Fred Stabbert
& Company (construction), Tacoma, Washington, 1924 to 1937; assistant
administrator of Federal Works Agency for Western United States, Alaska and
Hawaii, with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1937-1944; managing director
of builders of the West, Inc., San Francisco, California, 1944-45. He reorganized
public lands in twenty-four western states on request of Secretary of Interior
and the President in 1946, and his entire program was placed in full force and
effect. Mr. Nicholson has been owner and manager of Pacific Tractor and
Implement Company, Richmond, California, since 1945, covering northern
California and western Nevada as distributor for Ford tractors and Dearborn
farm equipment. He has been president of Columbia Tractor and Implement
Company, Portland, Oregon, Ford-Dearborn distributors serving Washington,
Oregon, Idaho and Alaska, since 1950. He is also consultant to Secretary of
Interior on western natural resources, and is a member of State committees.
Member of United States, California
State and Local Chambers of Commerce; Newcomen
Society of New York and London, England; member of Presbyterian Church; and is
an honorary life member of Kiwanis, member Toastmasters International,
Commonwealth of San Francisco Clubs, Claremont Country Club.
Mr. Nicholson is a speaker on Town
Hall of the Air; and is the author of a series of articles, “Agricultural and
Industrial Potential of the Eleven Western States,” King Publications, 1942-48.
He also authored “Report on Public Lands,” for Secretary of Interior and for
Congress, 1946 now known as “The Nicholson Report.” In March, 1951, he was
appointed by President Truman as a $1 a year expert to organize this nation’s
Civilian Defense program. He frequently is called by industrial and civic
groups as a speaker on various aspects of business and government.
On October 24, 1926, Mr. Nicholson
married Mary Runyon; children: Janice Grace and Laura Lee (deceased). The
family home is in Berkeley, California, at 59
Domingo Avenue.
Offices: 2512 Florida Avenue, Richmond, California.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Eminent Californians 1953”,
by Lee E. Johnson & C. W. Taylor. Page 257, C. W. Taylor
Publ., Palo Alto, California, 1953.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.
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