John (Jack) Nieman and Maurice (Rick) Reder were married September 25, 2011 by Rabbi Ron Aigen, of Congregation Dorshei Emet, in a ceremony witnessed by a small gathering of friends from Canada and New York, at the home of Rose-Marie Charpentier and Richard Prytula in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Witnesses and chuppah pole holders included the hosts and Eric Rosenbaum and Garry Korr of Manhattan.
Jack is a musician and entertainer, billed as “the world’s premiere concert pianist/drag diva”— Jacqueline Jonée—and frequent performer at the Performing Arts Library in Lincoln Center as part of library’s LGBT celebration, most recently in “Sofari So Goodie,” with the JouJou Jacquettes Phiharmonic Orchestra. He is also a featured performer in the Library’s presentation of Drag Show Video Verité. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan and received a master's degree in music and gifted child education from Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
Jack is a son of Margaret and John Nieman formerly of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and Mesa, Arizona. Jack’s father, now deceased, was a farmer and president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Telephones. His mother, also deceased, was John, Sr.’s devoted partner and mother of five.
Rick, CFA, ChFC is a Wealth Management Advisor at the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company and oversees the investment operations of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services at his Network Office. He graduated from Columbia College and the Columbia Business School.
Rick is a son of Frances and Dr. Benjamin Reder, formerly of Miami, Florida. His mother, now deceased, was a devoted wife and mother of three. His father, a graduate of Boston University and also deceased, was a pediatrician in private practice and later was Chief of Staff at Veterans Administration Hospitals.
John Nieman and Rick Reder signed their original katubbah in a religious ceremony in 2003 at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in a ceremony performed by Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Chief Rabbi of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in New York, and Rabbi Ayelet Cohen.
The couple met at a Gay Father’s support group in Manhattan in 1986. Each with a young child, a son and a daughter from previous marriages, they lived separately for five years before combining households. The couple has been together twenty-five years. They have had the joys of celebrating their children’s bar and bat mitzvahs; high school, college and medical school graduations; and the births of their three grandchildren.
