Nathan was born on 31 May 1917 at Inverness, Inverness County, Nova Scotia to Isidor and Fannie Feinstein, he had three brothers, Bernard, Joseph and Sam and two sisters, Edith and Rachel.

The family owned a Ladies and Gents Dry Goods store in Inverness, which Nathan took over in 1937 after his father’s death.

He enlisted with Coast Royal Canadian Artillery, part of the Non-Permanent Active Militia in May 1942 and, once trained, was assigned to the 104th Coast Battery until re-enlisting for active service with the Canadian Infantry Corps on 16 September 1942.

Not long after, on 30 September 1942, his brother Samuel, who was in the Royal Canadian Air Force was lost on a mine-laying operation off the Dutch coast.

As part of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, Nathan arrived in the United Kingdom on 5 September 1944 and less than a month later on the 2 October, landed with his unit in France.

On 1 November 1944 while taking part in Operation Switchback in the Battle of the Scheldt, Nathan suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen and was admitted to No.5 Canadian Field Dressing Station. Sadly, he died of his wounds the next day. He was 27 years old.

He was laid to rest in Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, Belgium.