Paul Holloway ’91H

Paul Holloway grew up in an 18-foot- wide rented rowhouse in Philadelphia in the 1940s. His father, who had worked as a margin clerk and a chemist, never attended college. Neither did his mother, who had worked as a salesgirl. The family wasn’t able to afford a car until Paul was well into his teenage years.

He was determined to be successful, and he knew that getting a college degree was key to that success. He found that his athletic and academic talents helped him make his way — as did people who lent a helping hand.

“If it wasn’t for some people along the way, helping me in sports, I would never even have gotten to college,” he said previously. He earned a business degree at Temple University in 1961.

“He saw education as his ticket to his future. In his day, if you didn’t get a scholarship, you probably couldn’t go to college. So he saw that support as the pathway to that next opportunity. It’s what gave him his passion to do that for others,” says Anna Grace Holloway, Paul’s wife of 62 years. It was those people, the ones who helped in finding success, that Paul thought of as he built his own successful career in automotive sales, and those he paid homage to with his generous philanthropy, not only for UNH students, but for countless others at public institutions around the state.

“I just think when you’re successful you have an obligation to help make other people successful,” he once said.

Holloway, who lived by that ethos of helping others as you’ve been helped, died on March 14, 2023, at the age of 84.

He was a champion of higher education in New Hampshire and an ardent supporter of the state’s public institutions, namely the Community College System of New Hampshire and the University of New Hampshire system, which includes UNH, Plymouth State and Keene State.

His business prowess fueled his philanthropy, and it started with a risky move he made just before he turned 30: He invested all of his assets in a Buick-Pontiac dealership in Exeter, which the year before had only sold 90 cars. He renamed it Dreher-Holloway. The gamble paid off: He would build it into one of the largest dealerships in New England.

In addition to his philanthropy, he also generously shared his knowledge and experience. As president of the 19,500-member National Automobile Dealers Association from 1998 to 1999, he worked to rebuild the trust between dealers and car manufacturers and took the lead on legislative matters for the organization, maintaining ties with key legislators in Washington.

Holloway was a partner in Clipper Nursing and Retirement Homes until he sold the business in 1997 and was an owner of the Wentworth Marina in New Castle.

More than his financial support, he was a public servant, having served on the USNH Board of Trustees for 18 years and on the Community College System of New Hampshire board since 2003. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of New Hampshire. Holloway Commons at UNH was named in recognition of his significant contributions, along with Holloway Hall at Keene State College, Holloway Auditorium at Plymouth State University, and the Paul J. Holloway Student Success Center at Great Bay Community College.

If he wasn’t working, he was boating and spending time with family, which includes two grown children: Debra Holloway and her husband and Paul Scott Holloway and his wife; as well as three grandchildren: Paul Holloway ’22, Elizabeth Holloway, Anna Rose Marion and extended grandchildren, Emma Marion and Noah Marion.

In 1988, Holloway’s wife, Anna Grace, son Scott and daughter Debra established the Paul J. Holloway Prize Competition to honor his achievements and contributions to the educational and business communities. Thanks to his family’s support, the annual event has allowed thousands of students to pitch their business ideas during the past 35 years.

It was fitting, says Anna Grace, that the gift was in the form of a competition.

“Paul viewed life as a competitive challenge — he was either competing with himself or others, in school, sports or business,” she says. “The purpose of the competition was to challenge generations of students to cultivate their entrepreneurial ideas in order to compete in the world of business.”

When Paul and Anna Grace founded Little Harbor Charitable Foundation, the idea was to inspire others to give back to those vulnerable among the Seacoast community, especially children. “He wanted to bring others along in giving back. The idea was ‘If I lead with a gift, will you follow?’” Anna Grace explains. “He wanted to throw the ball out there and see if we could get others to join in.

“That’s what made him tick. That was his center.”