Daniel Holland; lawyer active in BC alumni

Mr. Holland and his seven siblings grew up in Jamaica Plain, across the street from the Curley family. "There was somebody who matched up with everybody there, and they were in our house every day, and we were in their house every day," said Mr. Holland's sister, Eileen Sullivan of Wellesley Hills.

After graduating from Boston College with a degree in classics in 1935, Mr. Holland worked for Donnelly Advertising. When Curley moved from the Boston mayor's office to the governor's office, he asked Mr. Holland to serve as his aide.

After Curley's term ended, Mr. Holland returned to Donnelly Advertising. He also began taking night classes at Boston College Law School. His work was again interrupted, however, when World War II broke out.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps and served as an intelligence officer in Asia. Although he had two small children at the time, he felt it was something he had to do.

"He just positively did not feel that he wasn't going to be part of the war," Sullivan said.

After the war, he finished his law degree -- completing his status as a "triple eagle" graduate of Boston College High School, Boston College, and BC Law School -- and returned to Donnelly Advertising as general counsel. When John Donnelly, his friend and boss, died, Mr. Holland set up a private practice with his friend Paul Mark Ryan -- now called Lynch, Brewer, Hoffman & Fink -- where he remained throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr. Holland so enjoyed his legal work that he continued to provide pro bono services until two years ago. In one notable case, he represented a child, arguing for the child's right to refuse to donate an organ to a sibling.

"Prior to this legal case, parents could probably say, you know, `Johnny wants to donate a kidney to a sibling,' " said Mr. Holland's son Mark of Wellesley Hills. "Then my father did all the research and stuff like that and represented the child and the child's rights of organ donation."

Mr. Holland was also loyal to his alma mater and served in several positions on the Boston College Alumni Board.

Mr. Holland received many awards and honors throughout his career, including the Distinguished Service Award from the Red Cross and in 1985 the William V. McKenney Award for Outstanding Leadership from the BC Alumni Association. In 1993, BC Law School established the Daniel G. Holland Lifetime Achievement Award in his honor. In 1998, Mr. Holland was presented with the law school's highest honor, the Founders Medal. Despite his busy career, Mr. Holland was always devoted to his four children, said his son, D. Kerry of Westfield.

"He had this motto that he always was saying to us that `low aim, not failure, is disgrace,' " his son said. "He always wanted us to be pursuing very high goals and to set high standards."

In addition to his sister and sons, Mr. Holland leaves his wife, Ramona; two daughters, Karen of Westfield and Pamela A. of Newton; two other sisters, May and Ann of Needham; two brothers, Vincent of Conshohocken, Pa., and John of Brewster; and six grandchildren. A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Sacred Heart Church in Newton Center. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery in West Roxbury.