HOLLAND
- Richard M. dies; lawyer, blues
man, comic
April 4, 2002
by
Dan
Herbeck
News
Staff Reporter
By day, Richard
M. Holland wore a business suit, carried a briefcase and was a
well-respected
commercial real estate lawyer.
By night, he wailed away on harmonica with a blues
band, made bizarre comedy
videos and ran a comedy Web site that is viewed by
thousands of Internet users
from all over North America and Europe.
Holland, 47, died Tuesday (April 2, 2002) in the
Center for Hospice and
Palliative Care, Cheektowaga, New York after a long battle with
pancreatic cancer.
The father of three and a lifelong Amherst resident,
he is remembered by friends as
a devoted family man who loved a good laugh but
never allowed nastiness or cruelty
to creep into his humor.
"Rick had a gentle wit," said Richard G.
Abbott of Kenmore, a longtime friend who
performed comedy skits with Holland in
a group called the Tiptops. "He was one
of the funniest people I've ever
known, and also one of the kindest. He made you
laugh, but his jokes never hurt
anybody."
Holland was a graduate of
Sweet Home High School, a magna cum laude and Phi
Beta Kappa graduate of the
University at Buffalo, and a cum laude graduate of
U.B. Law School, where he won a
trial technique competition.
He began practicing law in 1981. He spent most of his
career in commercial real
estate and was considered one of the area's leading
experts on condominium law.
A former partner in the Magavern & Magavern law
firm, he most recently was a
partner in the Amherst firm of Holland &
Robinson.
Holland's low-key demeanor in the courts was a sharp
contrast to his energetic
harmonica work with Night Train, a popular blues band.
A fan of blues players such
as the late Junior Wells, Holland began playing with
the band in 1991. In 1998
and 2000, he was named the region's best blues
harmonica player in the annual
Buffalo Music Awards. He also played the trumpet.
"Rick could get up in a bar and play a harmonica
solo that would bring the whole
house down," said William F. Savino, a
Buffalo lawyer who plays in Jelly Jar, another
local blues band.
Holland was also a comedy writer and performer who
made numerous comedy videos
with his Tiptops group. He was known for creating
such bizarre characters as
"Seals & Crofts Juniors" and
"Swami Dagmar Khabud." With his wife, Nancy, and
an old high school
friend, Michael Battaglia, Holland also ran a comedy Web site
called Heisenberg's
Fun House, whose Internet following reached 50,000 hits a
month earlier this
year.
He was also a longtime golfer, tennis player and
soccer player, and friends recalled
that his sense of humor often had an impact
on his athletic endeavors. While playing
for a soccer team called the Thundermen
in the early 1970s, Holland bought fake
blood at a magicians' store, and stepped
onto the field with large amounts of the
realistic-looking liquid oozing from his knees, mouth and ears.
"I'm trying to intimidate the enemy,"
Holland told a referee, who shook his head in
disgust and ordered him to wipe
off the fake blood.
Holland had every player on his soccer team wear the
number nine, to confuse the
opposing team. On his golf bag, he used to tape a
small photograph of a house with
a large X over it each time one of his errant
shots struck a home near a golf course.
Holland also enjoyed hiking and fishing and was a
member of Temple Beth Am in
Amherst, the Buffalo Blues Society and the Rotary
Club of Buffalo.
He is survived by his wife of 23 years, the former
Nancy Suchman; two daughters,
Shannon and Kaitlyn; a son, Cody; his parents,
Richard and Joan of Galveston,
Texas; and a sister, Pamela White of Galveston.
A memorial service will be held at 12:30 p.m. Sunday
in Amherst Memorial Chapel,
281 Dodge Road, Getzville, New York.
Copyright © 1999 - 2002 The Buffalo News
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