Nita Pippins

Pippins worked as a psychiatric nurse before her retirement in 1981,^[1] superintendent of the psychiatric unit at University Hospital in Pensacola.^[2] In 1987, Pippins relocated from Pensacola to New York to care for her actor son, Nick Pippin, and developed relationships with his friends. After Pippin died in 1990,^[3][4] Pippins co-founded and volunteered with Miracle House,^[5][6] to provide housing and support for out-of-town families of AIDS patients.^[7][8][9] "If I can help these families get to New York and survive it, then all these boys wouldn't have to die without their mothers."^[10] She also founded a program to reunite AIDS patients with their estranged families.^[11][12]

Nick Pippin's partner, Dennis Daniel, wrote a tribute to Pippins in 2007, marking her 80th birthday, titled "The Mother of Us All."^[13] In 2010, NY1 News featured Pippins as the New Yorker of the Week.^[14]

Nita Roberts married Joseph S. Pippins. They had one child together, Nick, before they divorced in 1981. She died from COVID-19 on Mother's Day, May 10, 2020, at age 93.^[1][15]