Greenleaf Nursery mourns founder John T. Nickel
John T. Nickel (89), chairman of the board at Greenleaf Nursery Co., died peacefully in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 19.
The lifelong nurseryman, conservationist and philanthropist was born on August 10, 1935, in Muskogee, Oklahoma and grew up working in his parents’ [Harold R. Nickel and Rebecca Ann Todd] retail landscape nursery in Muskogee. At the age of 22, John established Greenleaf Nursery Co. on Lake Tenkiller in Park Hill, Oklahoma.
As a young entrepreneur, Nickel had the vision of growing plants in containers and creating a wholesale nursery that ships everywhere in the U.S. and Canada east of the Rockies. Today, Greenleaf Nursery Co. is one of the nation’s largest wholesale producers of shrubs, trees and container plants with locations in Oklahoma, Texas, and North Carolina.
Nickel was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 1998 and was awarded The Nature Conservancy’s first Oak Leaf Award and a Wildlife Stewardship Award from Nature Works in 2004. Another of his long-held desires was realized in 2005 when a herd of native elk was reintroduced to the Nickel Preserve after being hunted out more than 150 years ago. Nickel was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2007, and inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Oklahoma’s highest honor, in 2019.
We mourn the loss of John T. Nickel, but we also celebrate his life and accomplishments. He leaves an enduring legacy of excellence, determination and integrity that will continue to be the guiding mantra to our company into the future. Nickel is survived by his wife Julie, his five children, and his grandson, as well as many extended family members and over 1,000 employees whom he considered extended family.
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