In Memoriam: Black Investor and Icon Lou Holland


Holland Capital Management founder and namesake Louis A. Holland has passed away.

He was an accomplished athlete and had a remarkable professional career spanning nearly 40 years in the investment business as an executive and entrepreneur. “We are grateful for Lou’s vision, beliefs, and passion. Always humble, Lou never forgot his roots; as he so often reminded us, “I’m just a farm boy from Wisconsin,” says Monica L. Walker, CEO and chief investment officer of the Chicago-based firm, ranked No. 6 on the BE Asset Managers list with $4.4 billion in capital under management. Holland Capital offers 100% equity portfolio management, mainly to institutional investors.

The 20-employee firm manages assets across a client base of public and corporate pension plan sponsors, unions, endowments, foundations, two mutual funds, and some wealthy individual clients.

Holland grew up working on his family’s farm and attended Union Grove High School in Racine Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame halfback entered the investment arena in 1968 at a time when big firms weren’t looking to African Americans to manage money. But the former Wisconsin Badgers and Chicago Bears player worked hard and became a giant in the stock-picking world.

You can trace his growth as an investment management executive and entrepreneur from firms Commonwealth Edison to A.G. Becker Paribas to Hahn, Holland and Grossman, which he founded in 1983. Holland commanded so much respect as a stock pro that he appeared as a regular panelist on the PBS television program Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser for 22 years.

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