Edward “Eddie” Joseph Nichols

Edward “Eddie” Joseph Nichols, 79 of Seneca, South Carolina and formerly of Lansing, Michigan, and passed away May 25th, 2020, at National Health Care of Anderson.

Eddie was born on December 26th, 1940 in Lansing, Michigan to Maner and Julia Nichols who preceded him in death. He was a graduate of the 1958 class of Resurrection High School in Lansing and went on to be one of the early graduates of the Packaging Engineering program at Michigan State University.

Eddie then joined Continental Can Company where he had a very successful career designing and managing packaging plants spanning 34 years that took him to numerous locations in the United States and the world. He was proudest of his international accomplishments, including building and managing a can plant in Beijing, China, where he and Joyce lived several years.

Eddie and Joyce made their retirement home in Salem, South Carolina for the past 19 years where they both participated in numerous civic and community activities and where Eddie was an avid golfer with his friends in Keowee Key.

Eddie was a member of the Salem Lions Club and was a volunteer member of the Keowee Key Fire Department for 18 years. In addition, he was active for many years in the Oconee Habitat for Humanity and participated as a volunteer for 19 years in the BMW Charity golf tournament.

Eddie loved being around his family, not only his children and grandchildren, sister and brother but also his numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, and always went out of his way to visit them.

He enjoyed his Lebanese heritage both in cooking and eating and always bought plenty of supplies during his family visits to Flint and Lansing to take back to South Carolina so as not to miss out on an occasional Lebanese meal.

Eddie was a member of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Seneca, South Carolina.
Eddie’s warm and outgoing personality and his passion for life will be missed by all of his family and the numerous friends he has touched over the years.

He is survived by Joyce, his loving wife of 35 years; his children Barbara (Steve) Garrison of North Aurora, Illinois; Kathleen (Lino) Costabile of Geneva, Illinois; Christopher (Meadow) Nichols of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Julia (James) Gleitsman of Naperville, Illinois; grandchildren, Kayla Garrison, Samuel Costabile, Auria Saxton, Selina Costabile, Jessica Gleitsman, Gavin Gleitsman. Eddie was also a loving stepfather to Mark (Mary Jo) Rode of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, Greg (Cindy) Rode of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois and Chris (Jorry) Rode of Kenosha, Wisconsin. His step-grandchildren were Emily (Jon) Barnes, Samantha (Ralph) Pugh, Alex (Laurel) Rode, Spencer Rode, Kevin and Chris Schwinn and Brennen Heinrich, as well as five great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his siblings; his sister Gail (James) Pope of Flint, Michigan and brother Rodney (Barbara) Nichols of Findlay, Ohio and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Due to Covid-19 social distancing guidelines, a memorial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Salem Lions Club, 1290 Doug Hollow Road, Seneca, SC, 29672. Condolences may be expressed online by visiting
www.sandiferfuneralhome.com.