Frederick M. Nicholas

Nicholas negotiated for 2 years with family members and their attorneys before a Global Settlement was reached in 1998 and the claims of all parties were settled.

Francis' original attorney was removed by the Superior Court and Nicholas was named Administrator With Will Annexed of the Estate in 1996.

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL COMMITTEE of The Music Center - Chairman (to 1996)

THE MUSIC CENTER of Los Angeles County - Governor (to 1996)

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION - Trustee (to 1996)

CIVIC CENTER REVIEW COMMITTEE for the City of Beverly Hills - Member (to 1995)

Sam Francis, a celebrated California color field artist, died November 4, 1994, and left a myriad of legal entanglements that lasted almost 5 years.

Nicholas was awarded the Founders Award in 1990 by Public Counsel, and the Lloyd C. Cutler Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in 2008.

In 1987, Dan Frost, Chairman of the Music Center chose Frederick M. Nicholas to head the Walt Disney Concert Hall Committee and undertake the development of a concert hall at 1st and Grand Avenue in Los Angeles.

In 1980, Fred Nicholas was asked by his friend Max Palevsky, to help him with the various architectural difficulties he was having with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Palevsky had pledged $1,000,000 to MOCA with the understanding that he would head the Architectural Committee. Palevsky hired renowned Japanese architect Arata Isozaki but was unhappy with Isozaki's design. Palevsky felt Nicholas could resolve the myriad of issues pertaining to MOCA because Nicholas was an attorney and a real estate developer with broad experience in design and construction.

In the late 1980s, Mrs. Walt Disney gave the Music Center of Los Angeles, a gift of $50,000,000 to build a Concert Hall honoring her husband Walt Disney in Downtown, Los Angeles.

After the birth of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Law Foundation, the most important event in its history was the joining in 1975 of the Los Angeles County Bar Association in co-sponsoring the foundation and the changing of its name to Public Counsel.

Hap Smith died in 1975, and Nicholas formed a corporation called The Hapsmith Company and continued to develop and own shopping centers, which the company has done since 1956.

This message hit a nerve with Nicholas and he suggested to members of his Committee that the Beverly Hills Bar Association sponsor a pro-bono law firm to provide free legal services to the poor and needy. After two years of debate, the Beverly Hills Bar Association in 1970 authorized the formation of a pro-bono law firm under the name of Beverly Hills Bar Association Law Foundation. The Bar donated $5000 to its formation and Fred Nicholas was the first president with a staff of Stanley Levy as the first director and Ann Dominique Snyder as assistant. The fledgling organization survived on a donation of $20,000 from Nicholas and small gifts from the large Beverly Hills law firms.

In 1968, Fred Nicholas was named by the president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Chairman of a Committee on the Future of the Bar. It was at this time that Ralph Nader was a guest speaker at a Beverly Hills Bar Association lunch and spoke about the responsibilities of lawyers to the community. He criticized the legal profession for “Not Giving Back”.

Nicholas severed his relationship with Synanon when the organization became militant in 1968.

Three books have been written about Synanon and Nicholas' role with the Organization, "The Tunnel Back: Synanon" by Lewis Yablonsky (1964);"Synanon" by Guy Endore (1968).; From Miracle to Madness: True Story of Charles Dederich and Synanon (2015) https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Madness-2nd-Charles-Dederich/dp/0578163055/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508722156&sr=1-2&keywords=synanon

Synanon was a self-help society formed by ex-dope addicts, ex-criminals and ex-prostitutes in 1959 and led by an ex-alcoholic named Charles Dederich. Fred Nicholas became Dederich's and Synanon's pro-bono lawyer in 1960 through Jack Roberts, a dear friend of Nicholas.

Fred Nicholas started in the real estate business in 1956 when he met Maurice O. Smith (Hap Smith) a real estate broker who was involved in minor real estate transactions in the west side of Los Angeles.

Nicholas and Hap Smith became immediate friends and Nicholas prepared the option agreement on his free time without charge. Smith also was unable to raise the down payment for the option agreement and Nicholas raised the funds among his family and friends. Hap Smith invited Nicholas to become his partner and they formed a partnership known as The Hapsmith Company in 1956 because Nicholas was practicing law and did not want his name on the partnership.

Frederick M. Nicholas, an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of California since 1952, is a specialist in Real Estate Development and Leases. He is President of The Hapsmith Company, a Real Estate Development Firm with major interests in Northern and Southern California.

The professional career of Fred Nicholas spans over 6 decades commencing in 1952 when he was admitted to the California Bar Association.

In 1952, Fred Nicholas was sworn in as a lawyer in California, and started his legal career at Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles. He practiced law with Loeb & Loeb for .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}5+1⁄2 years, and left to form a law firm with Harry Swerdlow and William Glikbarg. The firm, called Swerdlow, Glikbarg & Nicholas, specialized in contract and antitrust law. Nicholas remained at SG&N for 6 years, and then formed his own law firm specializing in real estate law. He remained an active attorney until 1980 when he became a full-time real estate developer. Nicholas still retains his license to practice law in California.

He worked in Honolulu at the Honolulu Advertiser Building under the aegis of the Twigg-Smith Family, publishers of The Honolulu Advertiser. He became a labor reporter at a time when the transportation to and from Hawaii was shut down by a longshoremen's strike under the leadership of Harry Bridges. Nicholas covered Bridges and Gus Hall, Chairman of the Communist Party in Honolulu during the strike. He left for law school in Chicago in 1950.

Fred Nicholas became engaged in the pursuit of art in 1950 when he was a law student at the University of Chicago. What little spare time he had was spent at the Chicago Art Institute exploring the art of old and new cultures. Upon graduating from Law School, Nicholas took art courses at UCLA and USC.

Nicholas began collecting art in the 1950s and purchased contemporary and primitive art from dealers and auction houses throughout the country. He collected Rauschenberg, Warhol, Stella, Lichtenstein, Reinhardt and many of the New York School artists as well as Pre-Columbian, African, New Guinea and American Indian Art.

Nicholas graduated from the USC School of Journalism in the winter of 1947, and was hired by United Press as a reporter in Hawaii during 1948 and 1949.

Nicholas spent more than two and a half years overseas, serving in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Southern France and the Philippines. He rose to the rank of captain and served as a platoon leader and company commander until his discharge in February 1946. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.

Nicholas attended officers training camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia and was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant on October 9, 1942, one year from the date he was drafted into the Army.

Fred Nicholas was drafted into the US Army on October 9, 1941, while he was in his senior year at USC School of Journalism at the age of 21.

He was assigned to Camp Roberts for infantry training, which was interrupted by the declaration of war on December 7, 1941. He was then assigned to a Military Police unit stationed in San Francisco which was ordered to round up and imprison people of Japanese descent in a relocation camp located at Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno, California. Fred was a guard at the relocation camp for four months and celebrated his 22nd birthday on guard duty.

Frederick M. Nicholas (born May 30, 1920) is an American lawyer specializing in real estate development and leases. He is known as "Mr. Downtown Culture" for his role in building the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Geffen Contemporary, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and for the founding of Public Counsel, the nation's largest public interest law firm. Frederick M. Nicholas has combined his legal career with a heavy real estate involvement to become an institution builder in the arts in Los Angeles.

Fred Nicholas was born May 30, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. His father was Ben Nicholas who was the first member of his family born in the United States. Ben was a laundry supply salesman and worked for Washine National Sands. His mother was Rose Nechols, a distant cousin of Ben. They were married June 15, 1919 in the Bronx, New York. Fred grew up in Brooklyn, New York and Cedarhurst, Long Island. The Nicholas family migrated to Los Angeles in 1934 where Fred attended John Burroughs Junior High, graduating in 1935; Los Angeles High School, graduating in 1938; and USC, graduating in 1947. He married Eleanore Berman, Sept. 2, 1951 (divorced 1963). Children: Deborah, Jan, Tony. Married Joan Fields, Jan. 2, 1983. Joan had three daughters of her own, Rebecca, Joanna, and Judith. He currently lives in Beverly Hills, California.