Remembering Bertina Nick on Her Birthday

The late Bertina Nick, a fearless community leader and activist, would have celebrated her 79th birthday on September 8.

Ms. Nick passed away on November 22, 2004, at the age of 57.

According to an online memorial created by the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, Ms. Nick was a dedicated change agent and tireless advocate for underserved and underprivileged communities in Annapolis, where she was a lifelong resident. "Nick worked her way out of public housing and became a self-sustaining college graduate," the memorial reads. "But still, she worked for and promoted her community."

Despite facing significant challenges early in life, Ms. Nick persevered, earning her high school equivalency diploma in 1978 before going on to earn a master's degree from Lincoln University. Her educational journey reflected the resilience, determination, and commitment to service that would become hallmarks of her legacy.

After many years of service with the Annapolis Housing Authority, Ms. Nick founded the Greater Clay Street Development Corporation in the early 1990s. The organization focused on improving the quality of life in the Clay Street community while promoting self-sufficiency, empowerment, and independent living among its residents.

Ms. Nick's legacy continues to be recognized throughout Annapolis. In 2010, the Annapolis City Council approved renaming a street in her honor. Bertina A. Nick Way became part of the redeveloped Obery Court Housing Complex, serving as a lasting tribute to her decades of community advocacy. Longtime civil rights leader Carl Snowden said Ms. Nick was among those who made a lasting difference in Annapolis. "I am pleased that we named the street in her honor. Gone but not forgotten," Snowden said.

Ms. Nick's impact is also memorialized through a scholarship established in her name at Leadership Anne Arundel. According to the organization's website, the Bertina Nick NLA Flagship Scholarship is presented during the Tribute to Leadership and Graduation ceremony and "honors activist and community leader Bertina Larkins Nick and her lifetime of work in the county."