Robert Lee Holland, 88, caught his last wave Monday, June 19, 2017. Capt. Holland was born Nov. 30, 1928, the son of the late Robert Barrett Holland and Mary King Hooper Holland. Capt. Holland graduated from Granby High School and then served his apprenticeship with the Virginia Pilot Association, where he became a harbor pilot, retiring in 1990 after 43 years of service.
Capt. Holland was a surfing legend, all around sportsman and member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. His love of surfing led him to found the Smith and Holland Surf Shop, and in 1963, he teamed with the Virginia Beach Jaycees to bring the East Coast Surfing Championships to Virginia Beach.
He was the first surfer from the East Coast to win a national championship, at Huntington Beach in 1967, and is the only surfer to win the coveted United States Surfing Championships on all three continental coasts. He was part of the inaugural classes of the East Coast Surf Legends Hall of Fame and the ECSC Hall of Fame.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Patricia R. Holland; children, Robert Lee Holland Jr., and his wife, Johnna, John Holland, and his wife, Lorretta, and Anne Kloster, and her husband, Ron; grandchildren, Barrett and Amber Holland, Alix and Ella Kloster and Eric and Christopher Holland; four great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Patsy Richardson and Anne Baker.
A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 27, at Galilee Episcopal Church with the Rev. Kathleen Bobbitt officiating. A reception will follow in Tucker Hall.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad, 740 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, VA 23451.
Online condolences may be made at hdoliver.com.
