Cape Cod Charity Gets $1M Bequest

Photo provided by Kelley Foundation.

YARMOUTH – The estate of a former Cape Cod businessman has given one-million dollars to a local charitable foundation.

The bequest benefiting the Kelley Foundation is from Joshua “Jan” Atkins Nickerson, Jr. and his wife Louise “Weezie” Nickerson.

Jan Nickerson’s grandfather founded Nickerson Lumber Company in 1895, which eventually became Mid-Cape Home Centers. Jan was the board president of the company when it was sold in 2012.

Jan’s father was the namesake of the Joshua A. Nickerson Society, which was absorbed by the Cape Cod Foundation in 2019. 

The Edward Bangs Kelley and Elza Kelley Foundation is based in South Yarmouth. Bert Talerman, president, said they are “extremely appreciative of the generosity of Jan and Weezie and their desire to leverage the Kelley Foundation to enrich the quality of life on Cape Cod to support nonprofit organizations providing programs and services that support all areas of the community.”

The Kelley Foundation was founded in 1954 by Dr. Julius G. Kelley, the superintendent of what was then the Barnstable County Hospital in Pocasset, and Edward Bangs Kelley, a successful retired businessman born on the Cape.