Saturday February 17 2024

NORTHWEST CHAPEL/

Visitation 1:00 PM/

Memorial Service 1:30 PM/

Chapel/

1943 to the late Albert Taylor Nelson, Sr. and Marjorie Elizabeth (Crawford) Nelson in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Nadir was the oldest of seven children, Alfred Nelson, Eddie Nelson, Albert Nelson, Senora Lee, Marjorie Odell Styles and Lucretia Sain. His father, Albert T. Nelson, Sr. and sister Marjorie Odell Styles and brothers Eddie Nelson and Alfred Nelson preceded him in death.

When Nadir was young, his family moved to Detroit seeking better job opportunities with the automotive industry after his father, a Buffalo Soldier, returned home from Italy during World War II. Nadir was educated in the Detroit Public Schools, attending Brady Elementary where he and a group of lifelong friends known as The Brady Boys began their friendship and brotherhood. They were a group of young men that got together every Sunday afternoon for decades in the Spring until Fall, to play baseball at their former elementary school located on Joy Road and Lawton. He would later go on to attend and graduate from Detroit Central High School in the Class of 1961. At Central, he was one of the few Black young men on the football team. Nadir was a fast runner and loved showing off his skills even racing his kids well into his fifties.

In December 1961, he enlisted in the United State Air Force serving during the Vietnam War as a Military Police Officer and was stationed in Germany, Puerto Rico and California before completing his service in December 1965, where he returned back to Detroit. Shortly thereafter, he married his first wife Elaine Redd, eager to start a family, however, their relationship did not work out.

After returning to Detroit, Nadir was introduced to Islam and in the early 1970's, he converted and accepted that there was no God but Allah. With his conversion to Islam, he chose to change his name to Nadir (meaning unique and rare) Akbar (meaning the Greatest) in 1977. He was a devoted member of Mosque #1 and served as the Secretary/Treasurer for many years throughout the late 1970's and early 1980's.

On June 21, 1975, Nadir began his 42 year relationship with Toyi Cassandra (Boston) Akbar; Nadir and Toyi fell in love and were married on August 2, 1979 and they remained together until her passing on August 8, 2017.  From this union, they had five brilliant children, Mahasin, Shirah, Dr. Nadir Jamal (N.J.), Rasheed Jamil and Semaj. He was affectionately called Pops by his children and PaPaw by his grandchildren. Nadir was a strong father figure to not only his children but many of his children's friends and fatherless children in the neighborhood.

Pops was always up to teaching lessons. He was often heard saying, "I can teach it to you, but it is up to you to learn it," or his infamous saying when one of his children did not think something through all the way, "That was stupid (son or daughter), now let me tell you why…" He never left you wondering what he was thinking or why you should think something through a little more carefully. He will be fondly remembered for his many sayings and phrases, including, "Okey Dokey Now!"

Nadir was a serial entrepreneur, as he was a strong believer in you having your own. In 1974, Nadir opened the Original Fish House on 6 Mile and Schafer which he operated for more than two years. For thirty years, he worked for Nationwide Income Tax, which would later be acquired by H&R Block, managing the office located on Gratiot Ave on Detroit's Eastside. In 1999, Akbar purchased the building he had worked and managed for decades (since 1982) and started Eagle Tax Service. Nadir was a man of integrity and built solid relationships with people.  It was hard to find a person who did not like Nadir. He loved to sit on his front porch on Elmhurst in Detroit where you would often find him talking to neighbors about sports, life, and everything in between. The neighbors affectionately called him, "The Cadillac Man," because of his love for cars, specifically Cadillacs. He drove a Cadillac for the last three plus decades of his life.

Nadir loved sports and he could be often found watching basketball, baseball, football and golf. He particularly loved watching the Detroit Shock of the WNBA and was quite upset when the team moved after winning the championship. He encouraged and supported his children as they would play sports, attending his daughters volleyball, basketball, and softball games and rooting on his sons at baseball and golf. He loved to play cards, dominos, spend time with his children and grandchildren and listen to great music by Otis Redding, Maze and Frankie Beverly, The O'Jays, Al Green, Marvin Gaye and so many others.

One thing for sure, those who he encountered knew he loved his children and he would often share how proud he was of them. For his birthday last year, his children gave him a big 80th Birthday Party, which he loved. He did not originally want a huge party, but his daughters convinced him. He was able to have many friends attend from his childhood, including some of the Brady Boys and family from far and wide. He talked about that party for the subsequent months.

Nadir leaves to cherish his memory, his 95 year old mother, Marjorie Nelson, and five beautiful children: Mahasin Pierce, Shirah Akbar (John Mayes, Jr.), Dr. N. J. Akbar (Alexander, of Akron, OH), Rasheed Akbar and Semaj Akbar; and 13 grandchildren (Jaiyana Mayes, Semiyah Akbar, Johanna Mayes, Johan Mayes, Emmanuel Anderson, Saij Akbar, Noah Mayes, Noland Mayes, John Howard Mayes III, Troy Hoskins, Trevor Hoskins, Jacob Bell, and Keagan Johnson), brother Albert Nelson (Faye), sisters Senora Lee (Darryl, of Stocbridge, GA) and Lucretia Sain (Martin); and honorary special-like children Sonia Simon, Gabriel Todd, Ebony Johnson (Charleston, SC), Jamie Boatwright Sydes, Doren McDonald (Louisville, KY), Percy Broadnax, Samuel Watson, Sheena Todd (Los Angeles, CA), David Thomas and countless others, a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, close friends and other relatives.