However, his civility was sorely tested in a long-running series of clashes with fellow Justice Rolf Larsen, who allegedly tried to remove Justice Nix from the court by privately campaigning against his reelection in 1981. The imbroglio lasted into the 1990s, when Nix and a colleague publicly reprimanded Larsen for court misconduct and he retaliated by filing similar charges. That move backfired on Larson, who, following a grand jury investigation, was himself removed from the court in 1994.

“I thought he felt it keenly,” Judge Adams, now with Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, said of the controversy. But, he said, “The Chief maintained his dignity and composure and the Court continued to handle its matters in a business-like fashion.”

Nix was also involved in community and national life, serving on a number of boards and committees, including Penn Law’s Board of Overseers and the President’s Committee on Civil Rights. He was also a member of the NAACP and the Electoral College.

Nix is survived by his wife, Renate; his sons, Robert N.C. Nix III, Michael, Jude Steven, and Anthony; a stepson, Timothy Bryant; a stepdaughter, Kimberly Bryant; and nine grand-children.

– LARRY TEITELBAUM