Molly Mackenzie Nichols

Molly MacKenzie Nichols was born February 1, 1981, to Kimberley and B. Ashton Nichols, in Charlottesville, Virginia. She grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she danced ballet, played violin and field hockey, served on student council, took college-level French, never got a B, and flicked her long, curly hair. Fortunately, she recovered from being an over-achiever later in life. But she always maintained her hair.

She graduated from Columbia University in New York City, where her favorite spot was the subway: she could sit next to people from many different backgrounds and hear five different languages simultaneously. She majored in English, and her readings in African literature, and a semester in Cameroon, helped her make connections between politics, history, and the arts.

She spent her early professional years teaching, until she moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to manage a non-profit leadership program and attend graduate school. There she became involved in activism, and eventually found her calling: community organizing. She was arrested in an act of civil disobedience to prevent public transit service cuts and then worked to have bus service restored in many Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Molly had discovered the power of collective action and became dedicated to empowering others to challenge white supremacy, capitalism, and the patriarchy. These efforts became a career with Pittsburghers for Public Transit (an organization she helped found), as well as later organizing work with Tacoma Tenants in Tacoma, Washington, and the Sierra Club in Columbus, Ohio.

Molly maintained close friendships throughout her life and was deeply connected to her three sisters. She and Liam, her partner of fifteen years, immediately clicked when they met in graduate school; after years of adventure, they welcomed their beloved dog Ripley, and two wondrous, zany children, Fiona and Nora. In her spare time Molly loved biking, swimming, kayaking, tubing down creeks, going to parties, dancing, and visiting new cities with Liam, as well as her family cabins: the Roost and Gouweg. She reveled in her travels in England, France, Italy, Cameroon, India, Ireland, Japan, and Trinidad and Tobago. Across the spheres of her life, Molly cultivated and nurtured community wherever she went.

Molly had always wanted to be a mom and filled that role with joy, even amidst a cancer diagnosis when her kids were only ages 1 and 3. She focused on healing and managed to enjoy the last two years of her life, despite the horrors of leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. In this period, she especially appreciated the communication and care of her many communities, both near and distant. She died at home on December 25, 2023, at the age of 42. She is survived by her husband, Liam Murphy O’Loughlin; daughters Fiona Nichols O’Loughlin and Nora O’Loughlin Nichols; parents B. Ashton and Kimberley Nichols; sisters Amy Nichols, Libba Hockley, and Tessa Garcia, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life will be held in Columbus in May 2024.