Nicholas John Westley was born in Nottingham, England to Angela Collier Westley, a nurse and John William Westley PhD, an organic chemist. He spent his early years in England and was very close to his grandparents, Sam and May (Smith) Collier.
Nick moved to San Francisco as a toddler with his father John, mother Angela, one suitcase and $100 as John began his post-doctoral training at Stanford in the lab of the esteemed scientist, Dr. Carl Djerassi, and later with Nobel Laureate, Dr. Joshua Lederberg. Four years after Nick’s birth, his only sibling, Peter Miles was born.
When Nick was 8 years old, the family moved from San Francisco to New Jersey, again for John’s career, this time at Hoffman LaRoche. Angela recalled that as they drove into a gritty part of New Jersey, near where they eventually settled, Nick commented “I think I could make some friends here.”
Nick was a creative and very bright child and always on the move. He loved to build toy cities, organize groups and competitively race slot cars with his brother and Dad. Nick did very well in school and by high school was a star basketball player at Mountain Lakes, his high school in New Jersey.
Following a degree from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Nick met his wife of 29 years, Monica (Shiel) Westley PhD, at the Boathouse Bar in Harvard Square. Their first date was a very funny story of Nick buying a bike for that date. He remarked early in their courtship that they would never run out of things to talk about, and that remained the case until his untimely passing.
The couple married on Cape Cod and started their life together in Manhattan Beach, California surrounded by many classmates from HBS who remained lifelong friends. Nick’s beloved children, Aidan Nicholas Westley and Allison Cecile Westley were born as Nick’s career was launching at United Systems Integrators (USI). In short order Nick developed mutually profitable relationships with Computer Science Corporation, Farmers Insurance, DaVita Healthcare, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Company in the LA Basin, Sutter Health in Sacramento, Charles Schwab and Toshiba in the Bay Area, and Boeing and T-Mobile in Seattle. Beyond the El Segundo Office, Nick opened five new offices in Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Irvine, and Phoenix and built powerful and dedicated teams all within 5 years.
Nick became USI’s Chief Strategy Officer and traveled the world, opening offices in Canada, Hong Kong and the Philippines. And when it was time to sell the company, Nick selected the Investment Banker and helped orchestrate the sale to Johnson Controls. Nick made consistent, long-lasting, and a profoundly positive impact on all aspects of the USI enterprise.
Following the sale of USI, the family moved to Palos Verdes Estates, where Nick joined Palos Verdes Golf Club (PVGC), where he spent many rounds golfing with his kids, friends, and serving as a member of the Golf committee and marshall for the LA Open LPGA tournament.
After USI, he remained a dedicated member of the real estate community in LA, working at Johnson Controls, DTZ, and CBRE for the past 9 years. Most recently, he was an instructor in Real Estate Finance at the Marshall School of Business at USC.
Nick was also involved in his children’s lives, helping them with difficult math problems, coaching Aidan’s basketball and engineering teams, fostering a love of all things sports-focused (Go Lakers) and teaching them both to play golf, which was always a chance to enjoy time together. On trips, he was a fearless leader and “human compass”. He and his family enjoyed many wonderful times traveling the world.
Nick is survived by his wife Monica, son Aidan and daughter Allison along with his brother Peter (Lisa) Westley and children, Sydney and Allie, as well as his brothers in law Jon (Heather) and Paul and mother in law, Jean. He was predeceased by his mother Angela and father John.
We will miss our beloved husband and father and wish him peace and serenity. Donations can be made in his name to: https://thesugarscience.org/donate/
I am so sad to hear of your loss. The news devastated me this morning. I just want you to know how much he loves you kids and his whole family. I wish you guys peace and love through this hard time.
