Obituary of Roger Dutton Nicholson

Roger Dutton Nicholson passed away on January 2nd, 2022, at the age of 85 in Rathdrum, Idaho. He fought a brave battle with Mantle Cell Lymphoma for more than three years before he decided that he had had enough. Roger was born in Chester, England to an American mother and an English father. After his parent’s divorce, Roger’s mother brought he and his brother back to the United States where they settled in Whittier, California and became naturalized citizens. Roger was a business entrepreneur who started several companies after an early career in sales and management for NCR. He developed companies in the audio and video duplication industry selling everything from high-speed audio duplication equipment to audio cassettes. One of his companies imported audio cassettes and accessories from Hong Kong. In yet another company he developed patents with a partner for a limited play video cassette designed for the Home Video rental market as well as a laser disc headend for mastering that they sold to Technicolor. As the media market evolved his company became a Manufacturer’s Representative for Maxell of America’s professional Audio/Video division to the Broadcast/Film industry in Southern California. He also became a partner in a (quality assurance) company in Burbank, California that evaluated DVD/Blu-ray and streaming content for the film studios, a business that he was still involved in when he died. Roger was a great outdoors man and was very adept at handling weed whackers and chain saws. Roger was a passionate and highly skilled golfer and competed in amateur golf tournaments beginning in his teens and lasting through his life. He carried a single digit handicap through most of his life, was a stickler for the rules of golf and believed that you could tell a lot about the character of a person by playing golf with them. He was a longtime member at the prestigious Lakeside Country Club in Toluca Lake, California and when he moved to Colorado, he joined the Ironbridge Golf Club in Glenwood Springs where he made many close friends. Roger also loved baseball and attended his son’s and grandson’s ballgames at every opportunity. He took his sons on several trips around the country, visiting the old baseball stadiums and playing golf. He also skied well and spent many happy hours on the slopes. He liked people immensely and made friends wherever he went. Roger was a passionate patriot and spent much of his time and effort in later life working tirelessly for the Republican party in Colorado where he and his wife lived until moving to Idaho. Roger was a Delegate to the Colorado State Assembly, a Pitkin County Republican Executive Committee Member, a Precinct Leader, and a Pitkin County, Aspen election judge. He also traveled around Colorado on behalf of the Convention of States organization as a Colorado State Director. Roger said he had enjoyed a wonderful life and at the end of it he was content that he had done all he meant to do and was ready to go…we should all be so lucky. Roger is survived by his wife, Bobbie Brazzell, his four children: Susan Nicholson, Kerry Nicholson, Lorraine Barker, Kevin Nicholson and eight grandchildren. A celebration of Roger’s life will occur sometime later this year. Anyone interested in attending, please leave your contact information with Bobbie at bobbie@keymarkgroup.com and we will let you know when and where it will be.