Robert E. Holland was one of those rare labor lawyer negotiatorswho made even his adversaries leave the table smiling.
'Bob took a personal interest in each case and knew how to bringpeople together by respecting them and treating them professionally,'said Representative Michael E. Capuano, former mayor of Somerville,where Mr. Holland had been the city's labor lawyer. 'He made it soeveryone walked away feeling they had won as much as the other side.'
Mr. Holland, 57, a founding partner in the Boston law firm ofDeutsch Williams Brooks DeRensis & Holland who negotiated more than350 contracts for public-sector clients in a 30-year career, diedMonday at his Boston home of melanoma.
'While aggressively advocating for his clients, Mr. Holland neverforgot the importance of forging strong relationships betweenmanagement and unions representing public employees,' said ElizabethValerio, a partner in his firm. 'He worked to improve theserelationships and to build trust between the parties helping tocreate stable labor relations and to avert work actions in difficultfiscal times.'
Mr. Holland's wife, Vivien Li, executive director of the BostonHarbor Association, said that while he had scaled back his workconsiderably since his illness was diagnosed in February, hecontinued to correspond with colleagues on legal issues by e-mail.
'Bob really loved the law,' Li said. 'He felt it was the way oneperson could make a difference.'
Mr. Holland, who was appointed the city of Boston's youngest laborrelations director in 1974 by Mayor Kevin H. White, represented thecity as its lead outside counsel in its recent contract negotiationswith Boston's firefighters union.
Among the condolences received by his family at his death was afruit basket from the union with a card that read: 'Bob, it was neverpersonal. It was always business.'
Yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who engaged Mr. Holland ascounsel throughout his administration, described him as 'the ultimateprofessional. Bob knew labor law, its technicalities, and how tonegotiate,' Menino said. 'Besides being a lawyer, he was a person whocared, who wanted to be involved, and who wanted to make adifference. He always had a smile on his face and was always agentleman.'
Over the years, Mr. Holland negotiated contracts for the Bostonpublic schools, the Boston Water & Sewer Commission, the BostonPublic Health Commission, the Massachusetts Water ResourcesAuthority, the Economic Development and Industrial Corp., theMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Massachusetts PortAuthority, and many cities and towns in the Commonwealth.
'Bob became one of the best labor lawyers in town,' formergovernor Michael S. Dukakis, who knew Mr. Holland in his early years,said yesterday. 'He was one of those guys who brought out the best inpeople. You couldn't be down in his presence.
'Here was this wonderful Irish kid from West Roxbury, bright as awhip, with great people skills, committed to public service. He was awonderful example of the people who make up this town. They come fromlarge families, often with parents working as civil servants, whobecome committed to public service themselves. They represent thebest of the old and the best of the new,' Dukakis said.
Mr. Holland was born in Boston, one of eight children of WilliamE. Holland Sr., who worked for the Boston Housing Authority, andMargaret (Murray). His brother, William 'Bo' Holland of West Roxbury,said his kid brother was a character and took part in plays at St.Peter's Elementary School in Dorchester, a theatrical talent he latersometimes 'used in negotiations.'
Mr. Holland's parents moved to West Roxbury when he was 10 and hegraduated from Boston Latin School, where he played football, in1964. He graduated from Boston College with a major in finance in1968, and was drafted into the Army, serving two years in Georgia.
Growing up in West Roxbury, Mr. Holland served on the DemocraticWard Committee, was a founding member of the Parkway Boys and GirlsClub, coached youth football to a league championship, and coachedthe Holy Name CYO basketball team to the Suffolk County championship.He continued to do pro bono legal work for the Boston Latin SchoolAlumni Association throughout his career.
In 1973, Mr. Holland graduated from Suffolk University School ofLaw and began his labor law career as assistant director of laborrelations for the city of Boston. The next year, White promoted himto director.
Herbert Gleason, the city's corporation counsel at the time,recalled yesterday that Mr. Holland first arrived as the office boywhile in law school. 'He was really one of the young stars of theWhite administration. He was very fair and patient, tough, butthoroughly good-natured. He loved to laugh, especially at pomposityand pretense. He had a wonderful laugh,' Gleason said.
Mr. Holland left city government in 1977 to go into privatepractice with his childhood friend, the late Kirk O'Donnell. In 1982,he met Li on a Boston Harbor farewell cruise for a ConservationCommission colleague. Mr. Holland became a founding partner ofDeutsch Williams in 1986. In 1999, the Labor Guild of the Archdioceseof Boston awarded him its prestigious Cushing-Gavin Award for hiscontributions to labor/management relations.
For relaxation, Mr. Holland doted on his teenage daughters,clothes-shopping with them and encouraging his daughter Caroline inher writing and photography. He worked out every day, read, andfollowed the Red Sox.
A lifelong fan, he failed to convert daughter Andrea. At FenwayPark, he wore a Red Sox cap; she, a Yankee cap.
'Bob never forgot the song they wrote about Carl Yastrzemski afterthe 1967 Impossible Dream team,' his brother William said. 'He wassinging it last Saturday night on his sick bed.' Mr. Holland believedhis team 'would go all the way' this year, his wife said.
Besides his wife, brother, and two daughters, he leaves threeother brothers, James P. of Quincy; Edward J. of Hyde Park, andJoseph M. of Weymouth; three sisters, Patricia Tonra of Dedham; MaryM. of Hull and Kathryn A. of West Roxbury.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Holy NameChurch, West Roxbury. Burial will be in Mount Benedict Cemetery, WestRoxbury.
