By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer

Minding one’s own business doesn’t mean you can’t also watch out for your community.

Local businessman Richard B. Nelson passed away on May 21 at 75 after a lifetime of leadership and leveraging his positions to create opportunities for others.

He was born in Texas on Dec. 24, 1949, to Richard L. Nelson and Dorothy Rush. Nelson was raised in the East Bay and moved to Sacramento in the early 1970s. He attended CSU Chico on an academic scholarship.

He became an active voice for equality on campus, silencing naysayers who claimed he and other African Americans only got into the university because of affirmative action. After graduation, he briefly lived in Los Angeles before returning to Sacramento permanently in 1979.

Nelson worked in banking with Bank of America for many years before entering state service. Gov. Pete Wilson appointed him deputy director of community affairs for the California Department of Housing and Community Development. He also served at different points as deputy director of economic development and as executive director for small business for the California Department of Commerce. Former governor George Deukmejian also appointed Nelson to state positions.

The third-generation entrepreneur co-founded the Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce in 1985 and served as its early president and CEO.

Current leader Azizza Davis Goines considered Nelson a mentor and friend and said his passing is a “massive loss” for the region. Nelson and the late Clarence Williams asked Davis Goines to serve on the organization’s board of directors in 1991 and to interview as president and CEO and executive director of the chamber’s foundation in 2007. She told Nelson she’d serve five years, but has led the organization, now known as the Capital Black Chamber Foundation, for the past 18.

“Richard set me on a path I didn’t see coming,” Davis Goines said. “I, for years, ran our chamber on the premise of WWRD – What Would Richard Do – and I was never led astray personally or professionally.”

She views his passing with sadness and relief.

“He is no longer in pain or any discomfort,” she said. “I just hope he knows wherever he is that he’s left one hell of a legacy behind while leaving a huge tear in the fabric of our community that will be here for a long, long, long time.”

Additionally, Nelson served on the Sacramento Planning Commission and as president of RSN and Associates Inc., a management and marketing company. He operated Nelson Books and News at the Sacramento International Airport.

“He was a trailblazer for Black-owned businesses in Sacramento,” said son Richard A. Nelson, who is referred to as Richard Jr.

“He was always a champion of business for Black folks getting into it and also homeownership, just really wanting Blacks to get ahead,” he said.

Entrepreneurship was a family tradition; Nelson Jr. briefly operated a sandwich shop and the family patriarch, Richard L. Nelson, once owned a corner store, grocery store, and transportation business in Oakland.

Family was central to Nelson’s life; their happiness was his happiness.

“He loved his family, loved his kids, loved his grandkids, big time,” Nelson, Jr. said.

Davis Goines agreed that Nelson prioritized his family above all else.

“His kids and grandchildren led him by the nose,” she said. “He knew it, they knew it and that was just the way it was. He was almost equally committed to the local business community, which included his own businesses and understanding for the need for staunch advocacy on behalf of not only his own small businesses, but that commitment reached much farther than just his own.”

Nelson was devastated by the tragic death of his daughter Monique in December 2010. The young mother was caught in the crossfire of a shootout at a South Sacramento barbershop. She died shielding her son, Jayden, who was 2 at the time.

Three Black men, the youngest just 22 years old, were convicted, and Nelson turned his pain into purpose, co-founding a mentoring program, the HAWK Institute, to help intervene and reach at-risk youth before they ever join gangs or pick up a gun.

Nelson started HAWK with Dr. Eric Gravenberg. Friends for more than 50 years, the two wanted young people, particularly those “nobody else was dealing with,” to see successful Black men in their communities leading by example. The nonprofit’s acronym stands for “higher attainment, wisdom and knowledge.”

“I want him to be remembered as a fearless champion for Black males,” Dr. Gravenberg said. “He was dedicated to their advancement. He wanted them to be critical thinkers. He wanted them to be leaders. He wanted to show them, give them exposure to things that they hadn’t been privy to, to give them experiences that they wouldn’t have otherwise and to empower them to come back to the community and serve the community.”

Over the years, Nelson served as HAWK vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer.

Dr. Gravenberg visited Nelson in the hospital shortly before his passing, where Nelson made him promise to keep their work, created in his daughter’s memory, alive and to “take it to the next level.” That includes seeing to fruition plans to create an urban entrepreneurship academy to support young people in developing their own businesses.

“He believed in the economic liberation of our community and he saw that entrepreneurship was a way to get there,” Dr. Gravenberg said. “He wanted to leverage all the talent out there, all the organizations that are doing something in that sphere and HAWK would be the convener … so that we could really put resources in that and find capital for those young folks who are trying to build a business and pour their money back into the community. That’s his dream. That’s his legacy.”

The OBSERVER presented Nelson, a respected businessman and leader, with a Medallion of Honor in 2003, naming him one of its community legends.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, James Nelson and Patrick Rush; and daughter, Monique Nelson. He is survived by his children Kevin Boone-Nelson, Richard A. Nelson, Tamora R. Nelson and David J. Nelson; grandchildren Cyana Boone-Nelson, Rhobe Boone-Nelson, Rayonne Nelson, Jayden Nelson, Devon Nelson, Mateo Nelson, Ethan Nelson, Grace Nelson, and Joy Nelson. Also left to cherish his memory are his siblings, Rob Nelson, Karen-Smith Nelson, Barbara Nelson, and Rosalyn Rush. 

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 17, at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, 3996 14th St.