Edward K. Nichols

Born in Atlanta in 1879, Edward Kingston Nichols graduated with a BA from Morris Brown College in Georgia in 1899. He then received his bachelor of divinity degree from Yale in 1914, followed by graduate work at Harvard. Ordained in the AME Church in 1902, he held various ministerial positions in New York and Georgia. During World War I, he served as secretary of the YMCA at Camp Gordon from 1918 to 1919. After serving in other ministerial capacities, he moved to Philadelphia, where he became a well-known pastor. Most notably, Nichols served as pastor of the Mt. Pisgah AME Church in West Philadelphia, retiring in 1956. He was married to Laura Nichols, a noted social worker, and they had several children. A son, Edward K. Nichols, Jr., also became a well known attorney and pastor in Philadelphia. The elder Nichols died in 1965.