Industry icon Nickey Gregory mourned
Industry icon Nickey Gregory mourned
Nickey Gregory, founder of Nickey Gregory Co., dedicated more than four decades of his life to the wholesale produce business. He was a mentor, leader, friend and a steady hand to many across the Southeast and throughout the industry. Mr. Gregory’s influence can be felt at every level of the supply chain, in the customers he served, the growers he stood beside, the partners who came to rely on him and the team he built and inspired every day. He recently announced his retirement from the company that bears his name, a business he built into one of the region’s most trusted produce distributors.
Mr. Gregory died surrounded by his family in Atlanta on May 15. He will always be remembered as someone who put relationships first, treated every handshake as a promise and ran a business that reflected how he believed people should be treated. He shaped the lives and careers of nearly everyone who worked alongside him, and his impact reaches well beyond the walls of Nickey Gregory Co.
“My father built this company on conviction and on care,” said Marianna Gregory Skrine, executive vice president of Nickey Gregory Co. “He loved the people in it, and he believed in the work. The outpouring of love and memories from this industry is everything I would have wanted him to feel, and our family is grateful beyond words.”
“Working alongside Nickey was the privilege of my career," said Scott Chapman, president of Nickey Gregory Co. "He answered the phone. He kept his word. He treated every customer, every grower, every team member like the relationship mattered, because to him it did. I am a better leader and a better person because of what I learned from him. The industry has lost one of its greats, and this company has lost the man who built every part of what we do.”
Services will be held on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at noon at One Church, 2130 Redwine Road, Fayetteville, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial gifts be directed to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews at help.ifcj.org/donate/786.
