STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE, FUND THE FUTURE

Sheila Pauline Nicolas was born on May 20, 1946, to the late Maurice and Claire Nicolas in Brooklyn, New York. Born of Haitian descent, Sheila spent the early years of her life growing up in Brooklyn, New York. She then later moved to Hempstead, Long Island, where she completed her high school education at Hempstead High School.

Sheila was employed by Weiler Arnow Management Company in New York, New York where she was a dedicated employee for thirty-six years. Aside from her career, Sheila was a devoted single mother who worked very hard to raise her only child. Some of her hobbies and interests were traveling, attending her daughter’s dance recitals, and anything Bob Marley.

During the Summer of 2002, Sheila had been diagnosed with the Hepatitis C virus as a result of a blood transfusion she had received in the 1970s. Hepatitis C is a viral infection that slowly affects the liver and its function, causing inflammation of the liver and sometimes leading to serious liver damage known as cirrhosis. Once a person develops liver cirrhosis the only way to treat it is by getting a liver transplant. Already in the chronic stage of the virus, Sheila underwent a full liver transplant in the Winter of 2003. Unfortunately, by 2007 her Hepatitis C had reoccurred and Sheila departed this life on November 21, 2007, at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York, New York after succumbing to her illness.

Through the collaborative efforts of her loving godson Patrick James and daughter Gabrielle Beddoe, this memorial scholarship has been set up to preserve the legacy of such a giving, caring and selfless individual.