Obituary

Born in Buffalo, he grew up in Chaffee and graduated in 1964 from Archbishop WalshHigh School in Olean, where he was a member of the Art Club.

He studied at Auburn Community College for two years and won an award with his1967 entry in the Western New York Show at the Albright Knox Art Gallery.

He served in the Army from 1967 to 1970 and, as a social work psychologist specialist,he was stationed at Long Binh Post, near Saigon, the largest Army base in Vietnam.

He returned to major in art and psychology at Buffalo State College, now SUNYBuffalo State, and was mentored by the multimedia artist Julius Hubler. Hegraduated cum laude in 1973.

In 1973 and 1974, he was an exhibits aquarist-curator at the Aquarium of Niagara inNiagara Falls and won an Author of the Year award from the Canadian Organizationof Aquarium Clubs.

He went on to study for a master's degree in social work from the University atBuffalo in 1977, but did not pursue a career in the field.

He turned to his art instead, winning two awards for photography at the 1977Western New York show at the Albright-Knox.

He had a solo show at the Olean Art Gallery in 1978 and began studies into Senecatraditions on the Cattaraugus Territory with Twylah Hurd Nitsch, an elder in the WolfClan Teaching Lodge, which greatly influenced his art.

For 16 years, he also worked seasonally for his family's company, F. J. HollandDrilling of Chaffee, drilling wells for water, oil and gas. He worked for a time in theTexas oil fields and exhibited art in group shows there.

He had a solo exhibit in 1982 at what was then the Burchfield Center at Buffalo Stateand his work was seen at group shows and solo shows at various galleries in Buffaloand Western New York for the next 35 years.
His sculpture has been exhibited indoors and outdoors at Chautauqua Institution, theRoger Tory Peterson Institute and the UB Anderson Gallery.

His book of art images and commentary, "The Puzzle Has Four Pieces," was awardedCurator's Pick at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair in 1997 at the Corcoran Galleryin Washington, D.C.

In the 1980s, he returned to work at the Aquarium of Niagara and established NorthAmerica's first aquatic horticulture research and award program.

He also acquired a 53-acre property in rural Arkwright in Chautauqua County, wherehe created a nature preserve and planted more than 1,500 trees.

In the 1990s, he earned certification in environmental geology at the Buffalo Museumof Science and was certified as a teacher by the Seneca Indian Historical Society.

He was recognized for his field work with the Canadian organization PALS(Preservation of Agricultural Lands), for whom he drafted a constitution.

In the mid 1980s, he served on the environmental and planning board in the Town ofSardinia and drew from his knowledge of hydrology to testify at the Chaffee landfillhearings in an effort to protect the aquifer that provides drinking water to theSouthern Tier.

As a member of the planning and zoning board in the Town of Arkwright in the late1990s, he campaigned to delay the introduction of industrial wind turbines andhelped establish guidelines for keeping them at a distance from people's houses.

A longtime fan of local music, he met his his wife, Dorothy Foigelman-Holland, theCEO of Ken-Ton Physical Therapy, at Nietzsche's in 1986. They were married in 1993and had homes in Kenmore and Arkwright.

In addition to his wife, survivors include four sisters, Mary Sion, Peggy Fichter, FranBruce and Pat Buonaccorsi; and many nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life was held Sept. 17 in Arkwright.

By Dale Anderson - Reporter