Nicholas Joseph Ruich

Nicholas Joseph Ruich was a beautiful person with a huge capacity for love, a quick sense of humor, and a deep sensitivity to the world and people around him. He was a warm and generous listener with an innate ability to connect with others, make them laugh, and leave them feeling heard and cared for.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 10, 1982 and moved to Florida in 2016. He loved playing and watching baseball – especially his beloved Chicago White Sox. Over the course of his life, he worked as an audio/visual engineer and in restaurant hospitality, most recently at Galuppi’s in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Nick grew up surrounded by a large loving family, which included the Deaf community, as his paternal grandparents Stephanie and Luby Ruich were Deaf and a daily presence in his childhood. He loved to visit with his maternal grandparents Patricia and Jim Calcagno, where countless discussions were had with his grandfather over which baseball team was better – the Chicago White Sox, or the Cubs.

Nick was passionate about music and worked as a professional deejay at weddings and large corporate events in venues across the City of Chicago. He would often say how much joy it brought him to be able to get people up and moving to the music on the dance floor. His ability to really listen to what people wanted for their special event made him one of the most highly requested deejays in the company. His love of music and caring about the feelings of others was evident from childhood and grew exponentially throughout his life. He was a voracious learner, especially when it came to anything that illuminated the human experience—film, art, history, philosophy, spirituality, books (he had an affinity for Stephen King and the horror genre) - all subjects that he loved to have lively, funny, and thoughtful conversations about.

As an adolescent, he sustained a painful sports injury which contributed to crossing that invisible line into addiction. For all who love and loved this tender and engaging light of a person, the cloud of addiction could be confusing, harrowing, and heart-wrenching. Despite his personal struggle, he never gave up his fight for sobriety. It was during these periods of recovery, that he helped countless others suffering from substance abuse. He was in a stable period of his life before the pandemic, with a promising career and a healthy program. As his job and sense of security were eliminated by COVID-19, he wrestled with relapse. Even though treatment and resources were increasingly scarce, and he faced his own challenges, Nicholas continued to invite others to reflect upon their own inherent value with dignity while working recovery.

Anyone who knew Nick knew what a fighter he was as he struggled with his mental health and self-medicating drug abuse. He never gave up his fight and picked himself up and kept trying. Nick held good insight into the chronic effects of his disease including but not limited to his experience with harm reduction techniques. Unfortunately, practice with personalized harm reduction techniques still holds its risks and does not minimize or ignore the real and tragic harm and danger that can be associated with drug use. Nick attempted to manage his most recent relapse with a harm reduction technique that he was successful with in the past to course correct his recovery journey. Tragically, illicit drug use is part of our world and his most recent attempt in harm reduction led to a devastating outcome as he fell victim to the epidemic of fentanyl poisoning. Our only solace is knowing that he was in his home, happy, in love, and surrounded daily with many people who loved and cared about him.

One of Nick’s greatest joys in life was being able to help others find their path to sobriety and recovery. He would light up and smile whenever he talked about being able to help someone and you could see the joy on his face and hear it in his voice whenever he was able to be of service. His legacy of love and caring for others continued even after his passing through his gift of organ donation. His final selfless act was to give the gift of life and hope to four men he had never met. Nick’s final act reminds us that kindness, love, and the ability to give burned bright within him, even when he was at his most vulnerable.

Nicholas was loved by so many and leaves behind people who rooted for him, and are devastated at losing him, including his mother Christine Giglotto Justice and stepfather Jeffrey Robert Justice, father Lawrence Ruich and stepmother Tracy Zollinger Turner, siblings Meghan and Frank Ruich, honorary sister Alexandra Ruich Arcella (Eric), grandmother Patricia Culich Calcagno, step-siblings Declan Dougan, Jillian Dreibelbis (Steve), Kristina Labriola (Dan), Ben Justice (Christine), Eric Justice, and girlfriend Bailey Fleck. He also leaves behind Aunt Mary Jo (Paul) Curosh, uncles Jim (Colette) Ruich, Paul (Julie) Ruich, John Wawrzyniak, Patrick Wawrzyniak and Wayne Wawrzyniak, countless cousins, and nieces.

We hope that Nick is greeted on the other side by his beloved aunt Colleen, cousin Brittany, grandparents Stephanie and Luby Ruich, Aunt Jean Dyrczon, grandpa Jim Calcagno, and his dog Leelu.

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Today, you can celebrate Nicholas’ life with a playlist compiled by loved ones for his honor walk, including songs he loved, songs that remind us of him, and songs that help us with our grief (copy and paste the URL): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3MjRi6YOCwPNAA97r06WtU?si=WyAWTP-zTzOGR8gLCX9VgA&nd=

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.neptunesociety.com/location/fort-lauderdale-cremation for the Ruich family.