Harold Nielsen, 85, Father of Irvine Co. President

Harold Nielsen, an Orange County businessman and father of Thomas H. Nielsen, president of the Irvine Co., died after a brief illness, the family announced Thursday.

The senior Nielsen died Tuesday at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton. He was 85.

Longtime Businessman

A World War I veteran, Nielsen had owned and operated Nielsen’s Men’s Wear on what is now Harbor Boulevard in Fullerton for 35 years, until the mid-1960s. Nielsen lived in the same house on Chapman Avenue in Fullerton, where his sons, Thomas and Robert L. Nielsen grew up, for 55 years.

Born in Lexington, Neb., of Danish immigrant parents, Nielsen left a high school military academy in Nebraska to join the U. S. Army during World War I. He served in France in 1918 and later was with the Allied Army of Occupation in Germany before being discharged.

He returned to Nebraska, completed high school and moved to California. He lived briefly in San Francisco before moving to Fullerton in the 1920s to open the men’s store.

He was former president of the Fullerton Kiwanis Club, a member of the local Elks Club and was active in booster organizations for Fullerton High School.

In addition to his two sons, survivors include six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at McAuley & Wallace Mortuary, 902 N. Harbor Blvd. in Fullerton; interment will follow in Fullerton’s Loma Vista Memorial Park.

Family and friends will gather at the senior Nielsen’s home in Fullerton following burial services. The family has suggested that in lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy take the form of donations in his memory to the St. Jude Hospital Memorial Fund.