Calista Incorporator and Director (1972-74)
Storyknife, forthcoming July/August 2026 edition
After many decades of service to the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region, former Calista Corporation incorporator and Board Director Robert Nick of Nunapitchuk passed away in May 2026.
Nick was a respected, longtime leader in the Y-K Region. He was involved in the Alaska Native land claims movement and the formation of many organizations such as the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, and the statewide nonprofit RurAL CAP.
After the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed in 1971, Nick was one of five Association of Village Council Presidents board members who served as Calista’s incorporators. He served on Calista’s board prior to the first Annual Meeting of Shareholders in 1974, and for a portion of his service, he was Calista’s board chair.
During an interview for Calista’s 2021 Annual Report, Nick discussed the land claims movement and its impact on the Y-K Region.
“No other law, no other event, throughout the history of Alaska, has had [such an] impact on its Indigenous people,” Nick said.
In the interview, Nick shared that “I still think of [Calista Shareholders] almost daily, praying for them, praying that they succeed, that they live easier, that their education opportunities are more available, and their health issues attended to.”
On behalf of all Calista Shareholders, the Board of Directors and executives express our condolences to Nick’s family. Memory Eternal.