In Memoriam: The Rev. Nicholas J. Sollom
The Rev. Nicholas J. Sollom (January 12, 1981 - December 13, 2025)
In the tender compassion of our God, The Rev. Nicholas John Sollom, died in Christ on December 13, 2025. He was found by his loving spouse, Dom Bortruex.
Pastor Sollom was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He was a graduate of the University of Washington, majoring in Creative Writing, and came to New York City where he built a successful career as a paralegal at Skadden Arps. His attention to detail and his analytical and organizational skills set him apart from colleagues; he quickly rose to work in the office of the firm’s General Counsel. Law, however, was not Nicholas’ passion or chosen vocation.
As a child, his parents enrolled him in the Legionaries of Christ movement. He had hoped to be ordained in that movement but was thrown out of the Order when he came out. As an adult he was vehemently opposed to and an outspoken critic of “conversion therapy,” which he endured as an ill-guided stipulation for return to the Order.
Nicholas had no connection to the church until he and I started dating (we were married at Saint Peter’s in 2016 and mutually concluded our marriage during the pandemic). Initially, he came cautiously to Saint Peter’s. But it was here, with the broad and determined affirmation of this remarkable community, that he found a true embrace. Thanks to you, and especially the support of The Rev. Dr. John S. Damm and The Rev. Amandus J. Derr, he returned to seminary. He received the Hebrew Scriptures Preaching Prize from the General Theological Seminary of the Episopal Church and graduated with distinction.
After serving briefly as Assistant Pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and School in Plainview, Pastor Sollom became a hospital chaplain. He served the VA Hospital and Bellevue Hospital as a member of their palliative care teams. In August of 2017, he was honored with NYC Health+Hospital’s Citation of Merit, for his “outstanding and loyal service … and dedication to duty.” Seeking a change from the intensity of chaplaincy in New York City, he became the Oncology Chaplain at Yale-New Haven Smilow Cancer Hospital. He very much enjoyed New Haven and, even with his call to Rhode Island, planned to retain his house there.
In each of his positions as a chaplain, Pastor Sollom was recognized by colleagues, patients and families of patients for his capacity to hold pain and suffering with a profound depth. Having suffered and endured so much himself, there was no place of sorrow he feared to enter.
This is, perhaps, what prompted him to forge a pathway to provide spiritual and pastoral care to persons and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. He convinced Yale-New Haven Hospital’s senior-most leadership of the necessity of pastoral care, and insisted on returning to work even though his department was deemed non-essential. He became the hospital’s COVID-19 chaplain, and his ministry was highlighted in various publications including The New York Times. For his dedication and tireless service, Yale-New Haven Hospital honored him with the Yale-New Haven Hospital Hero Award.
Earlier this month Pastor Sollom became pastor of the historic First Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Greenwich, Rhode Island—a return to full-time parish ministry to which he was very much looking forward. We join in grieving with Dom and with the people of First Lutheran.
A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated on Saturday, January 10, 2025 at 1:00 P.M. (with a calling hour beginning at 12:00 noon) at First Lutheran (118 Division St, East Greenwich, RI 02818). A reception will follow.
Though he shielded most people from the depth of his pain, Nicholas was clear about who he was inside and out: precisely who God made him to be. His own words are perhaps the clearest way of capturing not only who God made him to be but what God sent him to proclaim to others: “He [Nicholas] believes in the radical, transformative power of love—and welcomes connection around spirituality, resilience, writing, and the healing power of community.”
The community of the church Nicholas first came to be a part of here at Saint Peter’s, then in Plainview, then in New Haven and further still in Rhode Island, gave to him as much healing as was possible this side of the grave. Sure and certain that the only death he ever had to fear was behind him, he journeyed in faith and hope to—in the words of the great spiritual—the river and, there fulfilling the promise of baptism, came at last to “that Gospel feast, that promised land where all is peace.”
Rest eternal grant him, O Lord.
And let light perpetual shine upon him.
Grace and peace to you,
Jared R. Stahler
Senior Pastor