We are gathering today to celebrate the life of a man of strong opinions and many passions – someone whose eyes would grow wide with delight at the prospect of a juicy steak, and who never tired of becoming an impromptu contestant on Jeopardy from the comfort of his own living room. (He was annoyingly good). Eric John Nord was born on July 26, 1951, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the only son of Charles Lowell and Patricia Ann Potter Nord, into a family that loved music and ideas and literature. There was also a residue of the religious background his father had been steeped in – something Eric would shy away from emphatically after his high school years at the Stony Brook School. But that childhood, too, was emblematic of the changes in the country, as young parents moved to the suburbs in search of new homes, attended school on the G.I. Bill, and bought their first family cars. Television was the entertainment of choice, and its cowboy shows inspired fringed cowboy outfits and coonskin caps, and later access to the ups and downs of The Giants and The Yankees.
But there was also an artistic and sensitive side to Eric, that would surface in his butterfly collection, his young drawings in pastels, and later, in his interest in color and design. There was his love of myths and legends, which came to him initially in a book from Grandpa Percy, a larger-than-life grandfather on his mother’s side. There was his love of wild animals, lions and tigers in particular, with their gleaming eyes.
Eric majored in English literature at Wittenberg University, but food was such a passion of his that adventures were framed through the lens of meals savored along the way. For a while he explored a career in the culinary world, but eventually decided he was happiest making marvelous meals with his wife in private -- for his daughter, family, and friends.
He forged a career instead in recruiting that was distinguished by a very strong work ethic, working for Knightsbridge and Hewlett Packard and as an executive recruiter for Deloitte. Once he had found the work that would define him, he took great pleasure from giving it his all.
When he met Andrea that fateful day on a train, he found his soulmate, fellow foodie, and life partner. “She is my rock,” he said often, as they navigated the shoals of ill health these past 10 years. But their marriage was deeply rooted in the rituals they had incorporated into their normal daily lives, and in the deep love they shared for their daughter, Kelsey. Eric and Andrea made a wonderful team.
The people he has left behind – Andrea and Kelsey, his sisters Kris, Peggy, and Julie, his brothers-in-law Charlie and Erik, and his nephews Wesley, Matthew, and Liam, and niece, Kayla – will feel this special loss for a long time to come. We will miss his toasts at Christmas, his singing voice, and his steps on the dance floor. Andrea and Kelsey will miss cheering on The Yankees with him, or chillin’ and grillin’, as Kelsey’s been known to text with happy anticipation. They’ll remember the simple pleasures of their evenings together, with their dogs Gus and Lily. And when we walk the trails he took Lily and Gus on, or pass by a golf course (his other great love), we’ll all think of him. RIP, dear Eric.
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