Dr. Joe Nix

Joe Nix died peacefully at home on August 25, 2026. He was born in Malvern, Arkansas, the only child of Frank and Era Nix. The Nix family moved to Arkadelphia when Joe was in the seventh grade. 

After graduating from Arkadelphia High School, Joe attended Ouachita College, later Ouachita Baptist University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. Joe then attended the University of Arkansas, where he earned his master’s degree, followed by a PhD in Nuclear Geochemistry. As a graduate student, Joe became involved in Arkansas’ early environmental movement. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Joe joined Dr. Neil Compton and others in the newly formed Ozark Society to stop a proposed dam from being built on the Buffalo River. Their combined efforts to secure congressional support led to the Buffalo River becoming the nation’s first national river. Joe succeeded Dr. Compton as the second president of the Ozark Society. 

After completing his graduate work, Joe returned to Ouachita Baptist University, where he taught chemistry for almost thirty years. 

Joe was an exceptional educator. He had the ability to make complicated material understandable to almost anyone. His soft lecture voice meant you had to pay close attention. In addition to teaching, Joe conducted countless studies about water quality and numerous environmental issues, including acid rain, mercury pollution, and the large bald eagle die-off at Lake DeGray that attracted national attention. His water lab at Ouachita Baptist University and associated data sampling and analysis involved large numbers of students, many of whom went on to have careers in environmental science and medicine. 

At the age of 47, life took a turn. Joe’s days as a bachelor came to an end when a wife and a 2 year-old daughter were added to his life. What followed were cats, dogs, a rabbit, and a pet sheep. Free time meant camping and hiking in his beloved Ouachita Mountains. Canoe trips on the Caddo and Little Missouri Rivers were now family affairs with swimming, fishing, and snorkeling also known as crawfishing. Erin, as a young child, wondered why the swimming pool did not have any rocks on the bottom. 

In 1995, as one career in education came to a close, Joe chose to forge a new career as Director of Programs at the Ross Foundation, where he spent ten years learning about forest management and helping direct the philanthropic activities that the family foundation is so well known for in Clark County. 

Throughout his life, Joe remained interested in applying his environmental expertise towards preserving the unique beauty found in Arkansas. If asked whether he had traveled to this or that state or county, he always replied: “I haven’t seen all of Arkansas yet”. He held the strong belief that environmental policy should have its basis in sound science. To that end, his involvement in so many efforts to protect wilderness and the environment in Arkansas was foremost led by his scientific knowledge, even when they arose from his very emotional heart. 

In what would be one of his last water sampling projects, he used his knowledge of water quality to once more protect the Buffalo River watershed from the polluting effects of large animal feeding operations. This was a perfect bookend to those early efforts to preserve the natural beauty of a free-flowing Buffalo River. 

Joe was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Laura McHaney Nix, and daughter, Erin Gilleece. 

Although his immediate family was not large, the many, many students that he taught were his adopted family before and after Laura and Erin came into his life. Those connections to former students were cherished by Joe throughout his life. He loved you deeply and was so very proud of you. 

During Joe’s final months of life, as his health failed, our family was so grateful for the loving care and support offered by Teresa, Marilyn, Sharon, and Christina through Baptist Hospice. We were blessed to have other special caregivers, Faith, Donna, and Tina. Thank you to each of you, and most especially long-time friend Callie Griffith, for the countless ways you have blessed us with your love.

A memorial visitation will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at Welch Funeral Home. 

A celebration of Joe’s life will be held at a later time. 

Memorial gifts may be made to the: 

Clark County Ecumenical Food Pantry 
C/O Arkadelphia First United Methodist Church 
107 North 9th Street 
Arkadelphia, Arkansas 71923 

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” A River Runs Through It by American author Norman Maclean.