WILTON, CONN. S. Erik Nielsen of Wilton Connecticut, a Danish Veteran of World War II and advertising executive, passed away on Monday, March 2, 2009 at Sunrise Assisted Living of Wilton, following a lengthy illness. He was 87. His beloved wife of forty-seven years, Mary Knox Champ Nielsen, passed away in September, 2008. Born Svend Erik Nielsen on September 1, 1921 in Aarhus, Demark, he was the oldest son of the late Niels Peter Nielsen and Rosa Helene Sell. Active in the Norwalk Hospital Volunteers since the mid-80's, he attended to the needs of cancer patients. He was also an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous, joining in January 15, 1978. He held memberships with New York's Union League, the Metropolitan Club, and was a past director of the International Advertising Association. He is survived by his son, Niels Lawrence Nielsen of Amherst, Massachusetts. Living in Denmark, Erik has a younger brother, Niels Jurgen and a sister. Another younger brother, Bent Nielsen of Risskov, Denmark passed away recently. Erik and Mary met and married in New York City in 1964. They moved to Wilton, Connecticut in 1968. He joined the Danish Free Corps (Frikorps Danmark) at the start of WWII. His troop train traveling to aid the Polish Army, was captured by Nazis and sent to the Russian Front. He escaped and joined British, Australian, and American forces as a translator of English, German, Portuguese and Italian. At the end of the war, he assisted the Allies in clearing the Salerno harbor of mines. After the war he moved to Brazil, and joined ATT / Standard Electric as a manufacturing purchaser from 1947 to 1951. He and his first wife, Elizabeth Ann Hunicke, moved to El Paso, Texas in 1952. He then joined the publishing company, Vision Magazine and moved to New York. In 1975 he started his own publisher's rep firm, Nielsen Communications, servicing about 70 foreign magazines in the U.S., specializing in financial, business and travel publications from Europe to Asia, including "Le Figaro". He was an avid skier and stamp collector with membership in American Philatelic Assn. Other memberships included the New England Opera and the Westport School of Music. His business activities took him around the world several times. He and his late wife, Mary often traveled together to such exotic locations as Bali, Thailand, Eastern Europe, South America, and Japan. Together they were part of the first small group of Americans to enter China and stand on the Great Wall in 1979 after Sino-American relations re-opened. Erik's family will receive relatives and friends on Saturday, March 7, 2009 in Norwalk's Hoyt-Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 5 East Wall Street, from 11:00AM to NOON. His funeral service will be held in the parlor at the conclusion of calling hours, NOON. Interment will be held privately. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages contributions to the Mid-Fairfield Hospice, P.O. BOX 489, Wilton, Conn. 06897 (www.visitingnurses.net), Connecticut Public Television or the World Wildlife Fund. ERIK'S DVD TRIBUTE IS NOW AVAILABLE. CLICK 'VIEW A VIDEO' BELOW HIS PHOTO.
To order
memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Svend Erik Nielsen, please visit our
flower store.
