After graduating in 1926 with a degree in civil engineering, Holland went into business with his father-in-law, selling road-building machinery in Binghamton, New York. During the Depression, road construction stopped, so Holland searched for a new career.

Holland discovered that lenders could charge up to 42 percent interest in Virginia and Maryland - and that employment was very stable in the nation's capital. Borrowers with jobs could repay loans. In 1938, without training or experience, Holland started his own loan company in Clarendon. Six years later, he bought enough shares in Old Dominion Bank to guarantee himself a seat on the baord. By 1948 he was president.

A year later he founded First Virginia Bankshares, the first registered bank holding company in Virginia. When Holland started as director of Old Dominion, the bank had assets of $3.85 million and its earnings after taxes were $6,375. First Virginia Bankshares now owns 22 commercial banks in Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee and has assets of $7 billion.

Holland was a new kind of banker. He offered installment loans to businesses and to moderate-income wage earners who lacked access to other banks. He stayed open so people could come in after work, "merchandised money" in ways that shocked conservative bankers, and gave trading stamps and pots and pans to new depositors. "Dignity isn't always profitable," Holland said, tweaking his critics. His bank is.