Thomas C Nicoll

June 19, 1929 - January 2, 2024

Tom Nicoll -- ballet theater enthusiast, retail store design specialist, life partner of movie actor Kerwin Mathews -- passed away peacefully on January 2, 2024, at age 94, of natural causes. His distinctive British accent and his impressive vocabulary added to his charm and captive personality at dinner parties and other social events.

Tom was born in Islington, a borough of London. He was an altar boy in his Anglican church, and, following the wishes of his mother, he played the piano for the church. Tom's father was an optician and a pharmacist, and he expected Tom to follow him in the business. Tom, however, had other ideas, and, after graduating from high school, he joined Great Britain's military service, where he served his country for two years.

After leaving the military service, Tom became interested in design and applied for a job in the window design department at Harvey Nichols, internationally recognized as UK's premier luxury fashion retailer. This job turned out to be the origin of a very successful career for Tom as a retail display and space designer. His first apartment in London was located in a building with two of the Beatles living in the flat just above his and the other two Beatles in the flat just below his apartment. Through the years, he shared many enchanting stories about his experiences socializing with the Beatles, Jane Fonda and other entertainers.

As an adjunct to his retail display work, Tom became interested in photography and occasionally took pictures of the store's window displays for his personal records. During the mid-1950's, he decided in his off-hours to try his hand at physique photography. Under the alias Scott Studios, he successfully established himself as a photographer of male models, and his pictures appeared in many British and American physique magazines, such as Tomorrow's Man and Adonis. Tom's popular physique photography led to a friendship and collaboration with the renowned artist Touko Laaksonen aka Tom of Finland, who used numerous of Tom's photographs as inspiration for his homoerotic drawings. Tom Nicoll's own impressive physique was even featured in some of the artist's work. Tom Nicoll has an extensive collection of original Tom of Finland drawings and has donated much of his collection to the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center of the San Francisco Public Library and to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

A friend introduced Tom Nicoll to Kerwin Mathews at one of the London parties. Kerwin was an actor under contract with Columbia Pictures. (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Waltz King, etc.) That was the beginning of their life long partnership. Their adventurous and glamorous lifestyle took them throughout Europe together for several years until Kerwin was hired for television work in Hollywood. Tom then moved with Kerwin to the United States and they established residence first in Venice, California.

With Tom's background in retail space design, he was employed as a window designer for Joseph Magnin, a popular specialty department store in California. He was soon recognized as a talented designer and became the protege of Cyril Magnin, owner of Joseph Magnin. Tom was appointed the Director of Store Design for Joseph Magnin of California, headquartered in San Francisco with over 40 stores throughout California. His new position required that he move to San Francisco. His career at Joseph Magnin blossomed and Tom won national awards for his creative store displays.

When Tom and Kerwin moved to San Francisco in 1971, Tom was invited to join a private gym in the South of Market area of San Francisco, named The Palaestra, owned by Jarod Clark, who offered a private membership to invited members. There was a maximum of 60 members at any one time, and the gym became the nucleus of Tom's social network of friends, resulting in lasting friendships for the rest of Tom's life. Tom continued his personal dedication to gym life and physique building into his 80s.

Tom was an active and valued member of the San Francisco Orchid Society. He incorporated a large area of his house for the propagation of orchids and constructed a large greenhouse in his rear garden for growing his orchids.

After retirement, Tom turned to his leisure time pursuits more seriously. He became more involved with the San Francisco Ballet company as a major benefactor of the Company. He was also an early supporter of Project Open House, an organization dedicated to housing for the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender communities. Tom's estate now provides exclusively for these four organizations: Project Open Hand, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the San Francisco Ballet, and Project Open House.

Tom was predeceased by his partner, Kerwin Mathews, in 2007.

Tom's cremation is being administered by the San Francisco Columbarium & Funeral Home. Plans for a celebration of Tom's life are being developed and can be obtained from the San Francisco Columbarium & Funeral Home, www.dignitymemorial.com. (415) 771-0717.