On April 15, 1905, a chance encounter would forever change his life. On his way to breakfast, Nickerson passed a well-lit and inviting restaurant. Because of
segregation, it was restricted to whites only. Instead, Nickerson was forced to eat in a dimly lit, unsanitary restaurant with poor service that catered to African Americans. He wondered if there were any modern facilities that could be patronized by blacks. His thoughts were interrupted by a man who offered Nickerson the opportunity to become an insurance agent. Nickerson accepted the job, which was as an underwriter for the Dallas-based
Southern Mutual Benefit Association, an insurance company. After a slow, but steady increase in clients, Nickerson became one of the top agents at the company. However, when Southern Mutual was taken over by
American National Insurance of
Galveston, Texas, this disrupted the firm which prompted Nickerson to consider another career. He took and passed the civil service examination to become a mail carrier. Despite the encouragement of his wife to take advantage of the relative security of civil service, Nickerson instead chose to continue with insurance, which by now had become a passion for him. To obtain a charter from the state of California, Nickerson needed to secure a $15,000 guarantee fund and obtain applicants for five hundred pre-paid life insurance policies that he could not promise to issue. He consulted an attorney, who said he had the solution to his problem, but for a $1,500 fee. Paying the fee was not a viable option, so Nickerson instead invested $27 for a set of law books. For several days, Nickerson studied the intricacies of insurance regulations to uncover a law that was sufficiently flexible to accommodate his situation. The resourceful Nickerson found a
loophole in the law that would solve his problem. He proposed to the Department of Insurance, that he would issue "certificates of contribution" to his subscribers instead of stock certificates, which were not allowed for a mutual company. This had never been done before. While there was no law specifically authorizing it, there was also no law forbidding it. With the assistance of an actuary named John H. Upton, the California Department of Insurance approved the plan. However, several additional hurdles had to be overcome including a move by the California Legislature to increase the financial requirements for a mutual life insurance company. Nickerson met every challenge and on February 24, 1925, the articles of incorporation were filed for the
Golden State Guarantee Fund Insurance Company. Starting in a small one-room office at 1435 Central Avenue, the initial officers of Golden State were Nickerson (president), Beavers (vice president) and Houston (secretary/treasurer). Under Nickerson's leadership, the firm expanded throughout California, Texas and Illinois. By the time of his death in 1945, the company, now known as Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company was the seventh largest black insurance firm in the United States and the largest black-owned business west of the Mississippi.
The Political Graveyard shows that William Nickerson Jr. was a candidate for presidential elector on the Republican ticket of
Dewey-
Bricker in
1944. ==Death==