Captain (USN Retired) John Philip Holland, Sr., a career Naval officer and former Assistant Director of the Capital Budget Division for the Maryland Planning Department, died on Monday January 5, 2026. He was almost 101 years old and lived, since 2005, in the Mercy Ridge Retirement Community in Timonium, Md.

Born in Bangor, Maine on January 16, 1925, he was the youngest of the three sons of Edward Joseph and Rose Marie Gallagher Holland.

A graduate of John Bapst High School in Bangor, Maine, he enlisted in the Navy's V12 training program at Tufts in 1943. Later, he was offered a place at the Harvard ROTC program which he declined after he received a 1944 Senatorial appointment to the United States Naval Academy.  In 1947, John was commissioned Ensign, USN.

As a midshipman, John met his future wife, Margaret (Peggy) Delaney of Williamsport, Pa when she was a senior attending the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (now Notre Dame of Maryland University) on a blind date at the 50-yard line of Memorial Stadium in Baltimore after a Navy vs Notre Dame football game. The couple married two years later and embarked on a deeply satisfying life together, despite making 19 moves in the next 23 years.

John's 28-year Naval career included sea service aboard a destroyer, five submarines and a submarine supply repair ship, while Peg single-handedly raised their six wonderful children. He was Commanding Officer of his last submarine, the USS Halfbeak (SS-352E.) John's shore duty included assignments to the staffs of the Commander Anti-submarine Forces, Atlantic and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Captain Holland retired from the Navy in 1971.

Following Naval service, he and his family moved to Severna Park, Maryland and he joined the Capital Budget Division of the Maryland Planning Department. While in state service he also earned his Masters of Administration with emphasis on Public Fiscal Policy from George Washington University. After 16 years with the Planning Department, he resigned as the Assistant Director of the Capital Budget Division.

While in Severna Park, John was active in the North Cape Arthur Community Association, Meals on Wheels, a literacy program, St John the Evangelist Church parish programs and other eleemosynary works.  While at Mercy Ridge, he served as the chair of the Mercy Ridge Scholarship Fund committee for several years.  He and Peg traveled extensively in their 70 years of marriage and particularly enjoyed two-month winter breaks on Marco Island, Florida.

After a lifetime of enjoying the water, he and Peggy will be inurned at the United States Naval Academy Columbarium where they will spend eternity together on the waterfront of the Severn River.

John was predeceased by his parents, two older brothers, Edward Joseph Holland and Hugh Terrance Holland, his wife of 70 years, Margaret Delaney Holland and his sons, John Philip Holland, Jr and Dennis Joseph Holland, as well as two grandchildren, Joseph Holland Henderson and Therese Mehegan Holland and his very good friend, Mary Lu McNeal.

He is survived by four of his children, Patricia Beck (Bruce) of San Antonio, TX, William Holland of Homosassa, FL, Deborah Henderson (William) of Danville, VA and Elizabeth Cimbolo (Jimmy Thompson) of Pasadena, MD, 14 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren as well as John, Jr's widow, Kathryn Holland and Mary Lu McNeal's kind family.

John will Lie-in-state at Stella Maris Chapel, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road, Timonium, Maryland 21093 on Monday January 12 from 9:00 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. where a Funeral Mass officiated by Monsignor Nicholas P. Amato will be held beginning at 9:30 a.m.  In lieu of flowers, please remember John with memorial contributions to the Mercy Ridge Scholarship Committee, 2525 Pot Spring Road, Timonium, Maryland, 21093.