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Williams
Brooke Nicholson
Williams - Bald Head Island
Brooke
Nicholson Williams, 67 of Bald Head Island, died
peacefully with his family by his side on Thursday,
September 13, 2012 at his home.
Mr. Williams was
born January 2, 1945 in New York, NY the son of the late
Harold and Lanelle Nicholson Williams. He grew up in
Saddle River and Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ. Mr. Williams graduated
from The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville NJ in
1963; spent a post graduate year at Lawrence College in
Kent, England in 1964; and graduated from UNC – Chapel
Hill in 1968. He was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity. Following graduation he enlisted in the U.S.
Army and went to OCS at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He served
a year as a platoon leader/operations officer in
Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Upon discharge, he began a career in the insurance
business and in 2005 Mr. Williams retired from Marsh,
Inc, the world’s largest insurance brokerage firm. His
duties evolved during his 34 year career at Marsh and a
predecessor firm, Johnson & Higgins, from actual
insurance matters to management to organizational
leadership. Before retiring from Marsh, Mr. Williams was
Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for North
America, an organization with eleven thousand employees.
Mr. Williams lived and worked in many places including
Pacific Grove, CA; Wayne, PA; Charlotte, NC; Summit, NJ;
Berwyn, PA; and Bald Head Island, NC. He was a member of
several clubs including, Merion Golf Club, The
Philadelphia Club, Radnor Hunt, Charlotte Country Club,
and the Bald Head Island Club. Mr. Williams served on
the boards for many charitable organizations including
the Bald Head Island Conservancy, Big Brothers / Big
Sisters of Charlotte, United Family Services of
Charlotte, the Philadelphia Opera, Community College of
Philadelphia, The Lawrenceville School, the Board of
Visitors at UNC-CH, and the Bald Head Island Club. Mr.
Williams was a member of Myers Park Presbyterian Church
in Charlotte, Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, NJ,
and Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, in Bryn Mawr, PA,
serving at times as deacon, elder and Sunday school
teacher. He enjoyed golf, reading, listening to opera
and spending time with his friends and family. He
employed a passion for writing towards speaking and
communicating on behalf of causes he loved and to
connect distant friends through class notes and other
correspondence. He will be remembered as a devoted
husband, loving father and grandfather, and dear friend
to many. He was preceded in death by his parents and a
sister Shirla Stansfield.
Survivors include his wife Eleanor “Nonie” Williams; two
sons, Drake Williams and wife Julie of Buffalo, NY; and
Jordan Williams of San Diego, CA; a daughter Lauren
Baynham and husband Todd of Charlotte, NC; a sister
Vicki Morizzo and husband Angelo of Hawthorne, NJ; and
four grandchildren, who knew him as “Bumpy”, Caroline
Baynham, Keen Williams, Adeline Williams, and Jackson
Baynham.
A memorial service will be held at 12:00 noon on Monday,
September 17, 2012 in the Bald Head Island Chapel with
Reverend Garrett Albertson officiating. Another memorial
service will be held in Bryn Mawr, PA at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bald
Head Island Conservancy, P.O. Box 3109, Bald Head
Island, North Carolina 28461.
Peacock-Newnam
& White Funeral and Cremation Service, Southport
