Much of the "credit" for Ithaca being the City of Evil goes to Nichols and the policies he instituted.
My sympathies to his family. However, like other dead socialists, from a political and societal standpoint, he will not be missed.
Posted on 11/27/2007 7:51:38 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
ITHACA, N.Y.--Ben Nichols, a professor emeritus at Cornell University and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who served three terms as mayor of Ithaca, has died.
Nichols, a professor of electrical engineering at Cornell for 40 years, died Saturday of natural causes after being admitted to Cayuga Medical Center.
Nichols was rooted in the American left and spent much of his life in politics. He was born on Staten Island in 1920 to parents who were Communist Party members. He helped his parents organize a union, supported the Spanish Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, protested segregation in the deep South, and supported Jesse Jackson for president in the 1980s.
Nichols served as mayor from 1989-95 and narrowly lost his bid for a fourth term. While campaigning, he frequently discussed sensitive issues most candidates avoided, such as taxing developers to pay for affordable housing.
In 1995, Nichols supported the city council when it voted unanimously to endorse same-sex marriages.
After leaving office, Nichols remained active in public affairs in Ithaca.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Much of the "credit" for Ithaca being the City of Evil goes to Nichols and the policies he instituted.
My sympathies to his family. However, like other dead socialists, from a political and societal standpoint, he will not be missed.
Prayers for his family.
His daughter is carrying on, though.
I remember him from my Cornell days. We chatted once for quite a while at a fraternity formal. He was a pretty nice guy one on one. I know all about his politics but I liked him as a person.
I find it hard to understand how an EE can be a socialist. He must have fell across the breakers in his youth.
Read his bio. He was raised by communists and obviously indoctrinated from birth. Hell, the EE influence is probably what made him “only” a socialist. ;)
Here in Ithaca ... what you (and I) would call a COMMUNIST, Locally they’re called MODERATES
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