Charles Nolan, a one-time Massapequa resident whose sartorial signature could be seen on runway models in fashion capitals around the world, died of cancer Sunday in Manhattan.

He was 53.

Nolan, whose flair for fashion was described by friends and admirers as being as bold as his political views - he left the industry in 2003 to join former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's Democratic presidential campaign - died while holding his partner's hand.

"Yesterday morning, we were holding hands and he died," said Andrew Tobias, a financial writer and treasurer for the Democratic National Committee who had been Nolan's partner for 16 years. "He was an amazing, wonderful person."

Nolan had distinguished himself in a crowded field by focusing on altering American classics to give them a modern edge and personal touch, The Associated Press reported.

He had enhanced lines for such noted labels as Anne Klein and Ellen Tracy.

After he left the Dean campaign in 2004, he opened his own line and boutique store in Manhattan's Meatpacking District.

Nolan had developed a reputation for raising eyebrows in a field where ingenuity is the norm.

He used nontraditional sources to display his work: Hiring Olympian Dara Torres to model one show and the American Ballet Theatre dancers for another.

"He was a wonderful, very matter-of-fact person," Dean, the former presidential candidate, told Women's Wear Daily. "For someone who had a tall record in the world of fashion, he was surprisingly unimpressed with his own success."

Nolan grew up in Brooklyn and Massapequa, according to a profile in The New York Times, and he graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

He apprenticed under Bill Blass and Christian Dior before moving to Ellen Tracy in 1990 and then to Anne Klein in 2001.

Nolan was a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

In addition to Tobias, Nolan is survived by his father, Philip Nolan of Merrick; four sisters, Elizabeth Rooney of Tarrytown, Joyce Nolan of Bellmore, Virginia Vitto and Carola Nolan, both of Merrick; and four brothers, Edward of Freeport, Philip of Bellmore, the Rev. David Nolan of Beacon and Kenneth of Manhattan.

Visiting will be Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel at 1076 Madison Ave. in Manhattan.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Church of the Blessed Sacrament at 152 W. 71st St. in Manhattan.

NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano has your guide to Fourth of July fun across Long Island. Credit: Brian Jingleski, Rick Kopstein, Newsday / A.J. Singh, Anthony Florio, Randee Daddona, Newsday / Kendall Rodriguez,

Food, fun and fireworks: NewsdayTV's Fourth of July special NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano has your guide to Fourth of July fun across Long Island.

NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano has your guide to Fourth of July fun across Long Island. Credit: Brian Jingleski, Rick Kopstein, Newsday / A.J. Singh, Anthony Florio, Randee Daddona, Newsday / Kendall Rodriguez,

Food, fun and fireworks: NewsdayTV's Fourth of July special NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano has your guide to Fourth of July fun across Long Island.

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