Nels died Dec. 6, 2010, in Pompano Beach, Fla.
Active in sports at Lawrenceville, he majored in English at Princeton before joining the Marines. In military service for over two years, with 18 months in the South Pacific, Nels was discharged as a captain and then went to Columbia Law School. He practiced law first in Manhattan and then with his own firm, Penick & Nelson, in Brooklyn.
He lived in Ridgewood, N.J., and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan.
In 1984, Nels and his wife, Sally Lou Smith, whom he married in 1950, moved to Pompano Beach and opened a gift shop in Fort Lauderdale. Sally predeceased John. He is survived by their two sons, John and Stephen.
Undergraduate Class of 1944