Nicholas Hordin

Nicholas Hordin

Resident of Mountain View, CA

1937 - 2010

After a courageous yearlong battle with cancer, Nicholas Edward Hordin passed away peacefully on August 7, 2010 with his family by his side. A loving husband and father, Nicholas faced his illness with dignity, grace and sometimes humor as he continued to work at his business, Hordin's Income Tax Service, up until the last few months of his life.

Nicholas was born January 2, 1937 in Rochester, New York. As the ninth of ten children born to poor Russian immigrants, growing up was not always easy. After the sudden death of his father, his mother carved out a living to support the family by running an illegal brewery. Nicholas led an adventurous life as a young boy and he always had exciting stories to tell of his childhood. He often recalled the time he tried to outrun an oncoming train across a bridge only to fall one hundred feet and suffer several broken bones, or the time he and his buddies found an old Civil War rifle in a muddy river bed that fired off a round.

High jinks aside, Nicholas was a good student. He found his passion for radio and sound technology as a high school student at Rochester Technical High School. Among his many technical talents, he could build any kind of radio or speaker and spent countless hours collecting radio tubes and other related parts. It was this talent that caught the eye of General Dynamics in New York where he worked for several years as an Electronics Technician. In 1961 he was recruited by Lockheed in Mountain View and he made the trip out west in his 1957 Chevy. He moved to a house on Bonita Avenue and there he literally married the girl-next-door, his wife Zada of forty-three years. After several years at Lockheed, Nicholas worked for GTE Lenkurt at night while attending school during the day. He earned degrees in finance and accounting and opened his own business Hordin's Income Tax Service in 1979. After a brief stint as a business in the family garage, Hordin's Income Tax Service soon relocated to downtown Los Altos and steadily grew to its modern day form. Nicholas was well known within the downtown Los Altos community. He loved his family, his nieces, nephews and his grandchildren. He liked to give nicknames to the kids - calling his grandson "Buster". Although he never lost his passion for radio and radio gadgetry; the grandchildren, barbeques and pool parties took priority over tinkering in the garage.

Nicholas overcame the trials of a hardscrabble upbringing setting an example for all that goals can be reached with hard work and education. He was a successful businessman, father and husband and will be forever missed.

He is survived by his wife Zada, his daughters Tasha Hordin and Tanya Hordin-Bell, son-in-law Zachary Bell, grandchildren Beatrice and Laszlo Bell, brother-in-law Michael Briski and wife Kathryn Briski, his nephew Kael Briski and wife Kay Briski, nieces Annika, Emily and Kamryn Briski and nephew Matthew Briski.

A service will be held September 18th at 11:00 am at Spangler Mortuaries, Los Altos.