In his own words

What he told new Alpine Shop team members:

“I didn’t get into this business to get rich... and by the way, I haven’t. I wanted to create a place where I wanted to come to work.”

Accepting Grassroots Retailer of the Year, 2019:

“My goal from the very beginning was just to get up in the morning and want to go to work and have everybody that worked for me feel the same way.”

To his wife, Lisa, the night before he died:

“Be sure all the people at the Shop know I love them.”

2019 speech

In 2019, Grassroots named Alpine Shop its Retailer of the Year. Holly accepted with Lisa at his shoulder and the Alpine Shop crew beside him.

Holly opened by giving the award away. It belonged, he said, to all the characters, and he used that word advisedly, who had chosen to come and work with him over 41 years.

Then he spent most of his few minutes on the women who built his company, in a business that in 1978 was all guys selling guys’ stuff to guys. For years afterward, women stopped him at the show to thank him.

He closed with the same idea he had been telling new hires for decades.

Recorded at Connect, June 2019.

Holly's story

Written by Holly's family, and shared here as they wrote it.

"I didn't get into this business to get rich... and by the way, I haven't," Holly liked to tell new Alpine Shop team members. "I wanted to create a place where I wanted to come to work."

For 48 years, he did just that.

Russell Richard ("Holly") Hollenbeck, Jr. died on April 21, 2026, in St. Louis, Missouri, of heart failure, just a few weeks after being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). He was 93.

At Alpine Shop, the St. Louis-based outdoor recreation retailer he ran for those 48 years, Holly loved hearing customers' and employees' adventure stories along with their hopes and dreams. He enjoyed learning and teaching about the latest gear. He was especially proud of Alpine Shop alumni who became leaders in the outdoor industry and beyond.

The outdoors was at the center of his family life, too. Holly loved heading west in a good road car with an excellent stereo. He paddled, hiked, and skied in Missouri and Illinois, and out West. But backpacking and camping in Wyoming, from the remote wilderness of the Wind River Mountains to the rugged beauty of the Tetons, made his heart sing.

Holly was born on December 11, 1932, in New Orleans, to Russell Richard (Holly) Hollenbeck and Kathleen (Coleman) Hollenbeck. He graduated from Portland's Lincoln High. He described himself as an enthusiastic learner but a not-so-good student who waited until the night before exams to study.

After high school, he played American Legion Baseball, spent time with his parents in Morocco, served in the Army, and graduated from Yale. He worked on Wall Street as a banker before moving to St. Louis for a job in corporate finance.

As Holly liked to say, though, what happened after he became a "fugitive" from corporate life was what interested him most.

He took his family to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. They crossed the country to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail. Along the way, he brought up the idea of becoming a business owner. When they returned to St. Louis, he bought Mooers Alpine, a five-year-old climbing store in Webster Groves, Missouri. On April 1, 1978, that store became Alpine Shop.

He had found the place where he wanted to come to work.

Holly considered Alpine Shop's selection as the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance's 2019 Retailer of the Year the highlight of his career. In accepting the award, he reflected on the company's beginnings and the importance of women to its success.

"When I took over the shop on April Fool's Day in 1978, we were all guys. We were selling guys' stuff, mostly to guys," he said.

Later in the speech, he described the progress: "It didn't happen overnight, but today I'm proud to say about half of our staff and our leadership is women."

"We were among the first to support suppliers for women's technical gear, and we encouraged our other suppliers to get on board and give us more selection. And, as you know, we got it."

For years afterward, he marveled at how many women stopped him at the trade show to say thank you.

In November 2024, a subdural hematoma required brain surgery, and Holly's life changed. His mind was sharp immediately after surgery, but re-learning to walk took a year of physical therapy. In January 2026, he told his therapist that he missed his golf buddies and he wanted to get back on the golf course by summer and be competitive by fall.

He drew inspiration from Klaus Obermeyer, founder of Obermeyer Skiwear, who has remained active past his 106th birthday. Holly said, "I don't want to ski but I do want to backpack in the Tetons with my wife this summer and I'd like to carry my own pack."

Holly continued to eat his vegetables first, did PT, and added 50 squats a day. He worked mostly from home, participating in management meetings, reviewing financials, and tracking Alpine Shop sales performance and pertinent news, weather, and economic data, as he had since 1978.

He kept planning for the future, too. He and his son Douglas had begun working on a new stereo system and recreating his eclectic music library in a modern format. He bought and read more maps and books and watched his great-grandchildren play sports.

And then leukemia, followed by a swift and remarkably pain-free death.

On the night before he died, after checking in on every family member, he told his wife Lisa, "Be sure all the people at the Shop know I love them." They know.

Holly is survived by his wife and business partner of almost 40 years, Lisa Kircher Hollenbeck, of St. Louis, Missouri; children Douglas W. Hollenbeck of Westerly, Rhode Island, and David W. Hollenbeck (Julie) of Shelburne, Vermont; and brother Walker Hollenbeck of Hayward, California; sister-in-law Kimberly Kircher Autin and brother-in-law Eric C. Kircher (Andrea).

He also is survived by seven grandchildren: Douglas's children, Halsey and Bowen Hollenbeck; David's children, Whitney and Nicholas Hollenbeck; and Drew's children, Chelsea Hollenbeck Tierney (John), Susan Boyd Hollenbeck, and Harrison "Gus" Hollenbeck. He is survived by four great-grandchildren, Henry, Oliver, Brynn, and Ruby Tierney; and by nephew Chris Hollenbeck and nieces Sarah Hollenbeck, Kristen Autin Kiger, Makayla Lane, Emma Kircher, and Emma Grace and Sydney Wenger.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Russell and Kathleen Hollenbeck; by his brother, Peter W. Hollenbeck; by his daughter Alison H. Hollenbeck and son Drew Howe Hollenbeck; and by his former wife, Susan Lattner Lloyd, who was the mother of his four children.

Burial was at St. Paul Churchyard Cemetery in St. Louis in April.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, April 24, 2027. Join us for our inaugural Alpine StorySLAM, consisting of five-minute stories spoken live. Written stories will also be collected and shared. Details on attendance and story submissions will follow.

In lieu of flowers

No flowers, please. Suggested donations to outdoor and environmental organizations of your choice.

Favorites include:

• Ozark Trail Association

• St. Louis BWorks

• Sierra Club

• Open Space Council

• Missouri Coalition for the Environment

• Wild Ones St. Louis

• St. Louis Audubon Society.