Industry Icon Passes

John Nash, Founder of Nash Academy of New Jersey, Co-Director of Nash Academy Lexington KY, and Co-Director of International Judges Association, has passed away at the age of 58 after a gallant three-year battle against bladder cancer.

“Few people in grooming have influenced our industry in such a dramatic fashion,”  stated Shirlee Kalstone. ”He was always an innovator, way ahead of his time.”

Establishing Nash Academy in 1979, John was also a respected international grooming judge, educator and speaker. He won the Cardinal Crystal Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Dog Grooming Industry. In 1988, John and Vivian Nash opened Nash Academy in Lexington, KY and they began an student exchange program with the Sepia School of Dog Grooming in Japan and the KK Grooming School, Frankfurt, Germany.

In 1998, Vivian and John Nash founded the International Judges Association for arm Dog Grooming Competitions, an organization dedicated to standardization and fairness in judging of dog grooming competitions worldwide. They also created the Triple Crown of dog grooming competitions, in which an individual could win prize money of $30,000, the largest ever offered in dog grooming competition history.

In 2004, celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Nash Academy expanded into the world of online training by offering online classes globally. In 2008, Nash, Inc. launched www.CanineReference.com, an online canine encyclopedia and in 2009, they launched www.GroomersReference.com, an online reference with illustrated guides for bathing, grooming and styling every AKC breed. In 2009, Nash opened Nash Europe.

Donations in Nash’s memory can be made to The Nash Brighton Project, the goal of which is to build a quality school for the education of children living in Brighton, Jamaica, a poor community in which Nash owned land and a residence.

To learn more about the project, please visit www.nashbrighton.com.

Cards and flowers can be mailed to:
Vivian Nash and Family
2000 Hillgate
Lexington, Ky 40515