Judith Nilon, pioneering sports concessions executive and successful attorney, has died at 68

Judith “Judy” Nilon, 68, of Philadelphia, pioneering sports concessions executive, successful attorney, and devoted church volunteer, died Sunday, April 9, of heart failure at home.

A lifelong Philadelphian, Ms. Nilon left a burgeoning legal career in 1987 to take over her family’s business, Nilon Sports Concessions Inc., which had provided concessions at Veterans Stadium for 15 years. As president and successor to her father, Robert, Ms. Nilon brought the company back from the brink of dissolution, negotiating multiyear contracts for PGA tournaments, the U.S. Open, Pocono Raceway, and the Mann Center.

In the late 1990s, Ms. Nilon became a partner in Fairmount Management, which won a contract with the city to become “master concessionaire” for Fairmount Park. After the sale of that business in 2015, she returned to her legal roots and became an administrative law clerk for both the Commonwealth and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania.

“She did all these incredible things that just took a lot of guts and a lot of perseverance. But she was also the most hands-on mother,” said her daughter, Julia Bray McClatchy. “There was no trade-off for her.”

Ms. Nilon embraced working motherhood, setting up a home office years before they were in vogue, especially for women, and bringing her young daughter with her to events. McClatchy remembers being in awe as she watched her mother, one of few women executives at the time, manage hundreds of employees at a golf tournament.

Ms. Nilon brought creativity to every endeavor, whether it was brainstorming new menu items for events or designing Fairmount Park food trucks topped with Boathouse Row replicas.

While her professional accomplishments were vast and impressive, Ms. Nilon’s loved ones remember her most for her warmth, selflessness, and enthusiasm for life.

“She was like magic,” McClatchy said. “Throughout all of it, she was always very present. She was a wonderful listener. She always made people feel seen.”

Ms. Nilon was known for the poems that she would write and email her loved ones each year on their birthdays, her creative rhymes read aloud by an animated shark with a British accent. For her beloved daughter, Ms. Nilon crafted elaborate birthday cards — handmade, laminated, and more than 20 pages long — that weaved together a story of the past year, complete with photos.

A devout Catholic, she attended Mass at Old St. Mary’s Church every Sunday, including this Easter, hours before she died. She volunteered at St. Augustine’s Church, where she helped prepare meals for homeless people, and was especially devoted to the Blessed Mother, after losing her own mother when she was in her 30s.

She cherished her close relationship with her sisters, Hannah, Robin, and Cathy, with whom she got together often. Whether they were shopping at HomeGoods or chatting over a glass of wine in Head House Square, the sisters could be overheard laughing.

Born Aug. 16, 1954, Ms. Nilon was raised in Ridley Park by her parents, Robert and Mary. Ms. Nilon and her five siblings helped their father and his brothers with what was then called Nilon Brothers Inc., selling merchandise for Eagles and Phillies games and traveling with them to events. Ms. Nilon’s childhood memories, her daughter recalled, included manning the cash register at Veterans Stadium concessions.

“Her work ethic and her ability to have fun at work was shaped from a very young age,” McClatchy said.

Ms. Nilon studied international relations and economics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She graduated from Georgetown in 1976, and received her law degree from Villanova in 1980.

After law school, she completed a two-year clerkship in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Honors Attorney Program. She then returned to Philadelphia to join the law firm Pepper, Hamilton, & Scheetz, now called Troutman Pepper.

Ms. Nilon started helping out the family business part-time in late 1986, and took over the company the following year.

Outside of work, she loved to spend time with her husband of 28 years, James Gardner Colins, former president judge of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and current senior judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. The couple cherished their travels together and recently started spending winter months in Florida.

A talented athlete, Ms. Nilon was a particularly skilled golfer. She played regularly with a group at the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale, and won women’s club championships at several area clubs.

Reflecting on all that Ms. Nilon fit in her 68 years, “I don’t know how she did it,” her daughter wrote in a eulogy. “If she were here, she’d laugh and say it was no big deal.”

A funeral was held earlier this month at Old St. Mary’s.

Donations in Ms. Nilon’s name may be made to the Mission of St. Joan of Arc, 2025 East Atlantic Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134.