Richard (Dick) Charles Nordine

Richard Charles (Dick) Nordine was born November 18, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio and died September 12, 2024 in Pensacola, Florida.  Dick’s birth certificate mistakenly lists the year as 1844 that once done could not be changed.  Though it is now accompanied by a correcting affidavit by his father.  So there does exist a historical document indicating that Dick may have fought in the Civil war even before any of his Grandparents came from Sweden to this country.  In truth, though, he was young enough to be drafted during the Vietnam war and served in the Army from 1968-70 doing Mathematics and Statistics at Edgewood arsenal in Maryland.

Mathematics gave much purpose to Dick’s life.  After graduating from Ewen, Michigan High School in 1962 and working summers at the Nordine Lumber Company in Kenton Michigan, he obtained a master’s degree in Probability and Statistics from Michigan State University.  He taught Math at MSU from 1970-73 and was Director of Statistical Applications at Nordhaus Associates, Inc. in Farmington, Michigan from 1973-75.  Beginning in 1975 he completed his career after many years as a market research scientist at RJR in Winston Salem, North Carolina.  His work there was described in part by tobacco litigation after Dick retired from the company, in reports that stated it to be well-respected, thorough and insightful.  And it was not just his good smile and always friendly attitude that got him those marks. 

And there is much evidence in Dick’s personal papers of his further math interests.  There are, for example, a 70-page analysis of statistics and probability factors for the card game of poker and a letter to a Michigan Legislator volunteering to help in making his constituent questionnaires effective in support of governing.  He always had up-to-date golf handicaps for his friends in the large group of golfers that he organized at Pinebrook (later Maple Chase) Country Club in Winston Salem.  He provided daily up-dated handicaps for any of the tees that a golfer might choose to play and helped everyone to know it was fair however the betting worked out.

Dick grew up in northern Michigan, the Upper Peninsula or UP but spent 48 of his 79 years in North Carolina.  Even so, he had a deep interest in UP history and geology.  His library had many rare and obscure books on those subjects as well as golf books on famous players and courses, course design, and playing golf.        

Most of Dick Nordine’s family passed before him, his Father Clemens Nordine, his mother, Florence Wassberg Nordine, his sister Ruth Chown, and his brothers Joseph and John Nordine.  He is survived by his brother Paul Nordine, wife Justine Nordine, and son Nathan, many Nordine and Wassberg cousins, Chown family nieces and nephews Amy, Kevin, and Karen Collier.  His funeral will be on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at Anderson Funeral Home in Escanaba, Michigan.  The family will receive visitors at 2:30 PM with a short service at 3:15 PM at the funeral home.  Burial will then be at Gardens of Rest in Escanaba with military services by the  United States Army Honor Guard  and taps played by Dick’s brother-in-law John Chown.

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