Marshall R. Holley ’57 died December 5, 2010.
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MARSHALL R. HOLLEY ’57
It is with great sadness I must report the passing of Marsh Holley on Dec. 5, 2010, after a long battle with cancer. Survived by his wife Teresita, son David, brother William, sisters Vermelle and Bernice, six nieces, nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews; he will obviously be missed by many.
Marsh is remembered fondly by his Amherst classmates. His Kappa Theta fraternity brother, Ed Gardiner recalls, “Marsh loved the company of others, and his infectious humor permeated any atmosphere he entered. I easily conjure up his smile and the all-encompassing warmth of his gaze.”
After Amherst, Marsh attended Howard University College of Medicine where he received his doctor of medicine degree in 1961. He interned in the U.S. Air Force and completed his residency in obstetrics-gynecology at Yale New Haven Hospital in 1969. There followed a long and distinguished career in his chosen field in his hometown of New Haven.
Marsh’s awards and accomplishments were numerous. He found time to serve on numerous committees and boards and was a clinical instructor and an associate clinical professor of obstetrics-gynecology at Yale University School of Medicine where he also was a member of the admissions committee. In 1995, he received an award from the residents he taught “as representing an outstanding example of superb patient care, devotion to resident training and overall clinical excellence.”
One does not accomplish what Marsh did without exceptional effort and focus. Classmate Bob Twombly recalls, “I lived door-to-door with Marsh for two years and interrupted his ferocious studying with what he must have felt as annoying regularity. It never dimmed his remarkable smile or stilled his gentleness of voice. He never advertised this personal compulsiveness or how hard he had been on himself, and how secretly set apart this had made him. A paradox, since he always seemed the friendliest person in the house.”
Marsh, your life was full, your contributions to mankind exceptional, may you rest in peace.
—Bill Donohue ’57