Robert Adair Holden's Obituary
Col. Robert Adair Holden (US Army, Retired)
Bob was born and raised in Philadelphia where he attended public schools. He was active in scouting, and played varsity golf for three years in high school.
He attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia, receiving a BS in Physics and a commission as a 2d Lt in the US Army Reserve through the ROTC program. During his initial tour in the Army he decided on a career as a professional soldier and integrated into the Regular Army. His Army career included a variety of command and staff assignments overseas in Vietnam, Korea and Germany and at several posts in the United States. A field artilleryman by trade, he commanded at company and battalion-level. While in Germany, he served as a operational planner and as Secretary of the General Staff at the US Army headquarters in Europe. On his second tour in Korea, he commanded the first nuclear-capable field artillery battalion in that country. He served two tours in the Pentagon; one representing the Army's European command and a second as an operational planner on the Army Staff. The Army sent him for further education at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, where he earned a MS in Public Administration, and to Cornell University for its Executive Skills Development program. He attended the Army War College as a student and served thereafter for four years on its faculty, holding the academic chair in management. He completed his 28 year military career as Chair of the Department of Strategy at the Industrial College of the National Defense University in Washington, retiring as a Colonel.
Bob spent a 15-year second career in Washington, D.C., in a management and technology firm, where he led teams in developing emergency preparedness and crisis management plans for the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Treasury Department, Commerce Department, Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
In 1992, he met and married his beloved wife of 30 years Joanna, living in St Michaels Maryland. Bob enjoyed recreational and competitive sailing and fishing. He was an Aspen-Wye Fellow, a member of the Rotary Club of St Michaels, the St Michaels Men's Breakfast Club and the Christ Church Men's Club.
Bob is survived by his wife, his son Michael Holden of Mesa, Arizona, his daughter, Kathryn Holden and her husband David Brown of San Marcos, California, his sister, Phyllis Fisher of Boerne, Texas, and nieces and nephews in Easton and Philadelphia.
A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at Christ Episcopal Church, St Michaels at 11:00AM on Saturday, March 18, 2023. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Christ Church, St Michaels, Md. 21663; St Michaels Rotary Club P.O. Box 394 St. Michaels 21663; or Talbot Hospice Foundation 586 Cynwood Drive Easton, MD. 21601
Arrangements are entrusted to the Framptom Funeral Home-Ostrowski Chapel, St Michaels, Md. (www.framptom.com
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