I had the honor back in the 90s to attend several free firearms lessons for women U.S. Marshal Holland taught at McKeesport Sportsmen. I could've sat and listened to the stories this gentleman told for hours of his career in law enforcement and for his tips on self-defense and how to shoot for all of us beginner lady shooters. And what a shooter he was. I always saw him working with a revolver and could he shoot that sucker long range! Wow!

I'm devastated to hear of his passing. I hope there is a fantastic shooting range in heaven. It was an honor to meet you U.S. Marshal Stan Holland. This shooter will always remember you as bigger than life and will always remember your lessons so generously given. My deepest sympathies to his family, fellow law enforcement officers and friends.

Obituary: Stan Holland / Retired Deputy U.S. Marshal, noted firearms instructor
Sept. 18, 1946 -- May 19, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Most law enforcement officers won't fire 125,000 rounds in their entire careers.

Retired Deputy U.S. Marshal Stan Holland fired that many every year.

One of the most respected firearms instructors in the country, Mr. Holland died of a heart attack Saturday at home in McKeesport. He was 60 and had spent the day concentrating on the pastime he loved most -- shooting.

Though he retired from the U.S. Marshals in 2005, Mr. Holland continued to serve as a firearms instructor for the state constables continuing education program. He had also taught at the Allegheny County Police Academy and McKeesport Sportsmen's Association.

Mr. Holland served as the primary firearms instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Ga., from 1985 to 1988.

After that, he returned to the Pittsburgh marshals office, where he served as the warrants supervisor.

"If we anticipated any danger, we wanted Stan and his guys there," said Andrew Hromoko Jr., with the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division. "I was out on a couple situations where your heart is really pumping, but when you looked to your side and saw that smile, you knew you were going to be OK."

Mr. Holland was the National Rifle Association's pistol champion for 1985, and won the national U.S. Secret Service competition in the 1980s.

"He worked extremely hard at it," said Jim Ellis, a fellow deputy U.S. marshal and firearms instructor.

It wasn't just the shooting that Mr. Holland enjoyed -- he studied ballistics, recoil and velocity, Mr. Ellis said. He could do the calculations to figure out trajectory and how far off a bullet would be with a misaligned sight.

He could read an article about a new firing technique -- or see it used just once -- and be able to replicate it, he said.

His wife, Linda, said target shooting was a sport, but for her husband it had a practical side. It could save someone's life.

It was rewarding for Mr. Holland when he heard from a marshal he had trained who was involved in a shooting that had a successful result, said Larry Likar, a retired FBI agent and now the chair of the justice, law and security department at La Roche College.

The two men served on Pittsburgh's fugitive task force together.

"Firearms is almost a form of meditation, with the precision and concentration it takes," Mr. Likar said.

For Mr. Holland, his philosophy for competitive shooting was that he was never competing against someone else -- only himself, Mr. Likar said.

Carl Nagy, now the Pitcairn police chief and a longtime friend of Mr. Holland's, met him at a shooting competition in 1982.

"I never ceased to learn from him," he said.

Mr. Holland majored in history education in college, but he found law enforcement to be his calling. He joined the U.S. Marshals in 1970. In 1973, he was called to Wounded Knee, S.D., to work the 71-day standoff between the American Indian Movement and the federal government.

Besides his love for shooting, Mr. Holland had many other interests. He was a history buff and an avid reader of nonfiction. He loved animals, and was able to retain information on almost any topic.

"It was always so amazing to me that he retained everything he'd been exposed to -- ever," Mrs. Holland said. "Once he got interested in something, he went crazy and learned everything about it."

One of the things she loved best about him, she said, was that her husband treated everyone the same way.

"He never would judge anyone," Mrs. Holland said. "A friend of his said, 'He could meet the president, and he'd talk to him the same way he would a prisoner he was arresting.'"

They were married for nearly 36 years. After their first date, while in Delaware, Mrs. Holland returned home and told her roommate, "I met the guy I'm going to marry."

In addition to his wife, Mr. Holland is survived by a brother, Richard A. Holland of West Newton.

Visitation will be today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Hunter Funeral Home, 1600 Coursin St., McKeesport. A funeral service will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Central Presbyterian Church, with the Rev. Dr. Darrell Knopp officiating. Interment in West Newton Cemetery.

The family suggests contributions to the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society or the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07142/787928-122.stm