Bryan Ray Holley

Bryan Ray Holley was born on June 20, 1961 in Monroe, Louisiana to Janice and Ray Holley. The young couple was thrilled to welcome their first child and sixteen months later they welcomed their second son, John Stewart.

Growing up in Louisiana Bryan loved the outdoors. He began fishing and hunting at a young age. He loved to drive the family boat and waterski. But his true love was sports. He was a talented athlete and excelled at any sport he tried. Football was his favorite. He graduated from West Monroe High School in 1979.

His other passion growing up was music. He played many instruments but was most interested in the guitar. He and some high school friends formed a band and were best known for their rendition of KISS songs – in full make up of course. He also worked at the local music store, Zeagler Music, where he was described by his boss, Tom Pell, as being confident and eager, having he ability to excel at so much at an early age.

Bryan decided in high school that he wanted to learn how to fly and by age 16 he had his pilot's license, much to the dismay of his parents. Always known for being spirited, Bryan would fly friends to another city or state in the middle of the night just for the fun of it.

After high school Bryan attended Northeast Louisiana University for a short time. Being a bit undisciplined, he soon realized that college wasn't the best choice for him - that, and pulling a few pranks that although were considered funny by his classmates, were not considered funny by the administration.

Bryan moved to Panama City Beach for a short while. He thought he would be living the dream since he had such a great time there during Spring break. There Bryan began a career in retail working for Howard Brothers Discount Stores where Ray was employed. He was a hard worker but felt that he needed to get out on his own and prove himself. He then began working as a store manager at both Bealls and Dillards in various locations throughout Louisiana and Mississippi becoming the youngest Bealls store manager ever.

Always the visionary, Bryan saw the importance of the computer industry and wanted to join this rising field. He left his retail career (seen as a risky move at the time) and joined Radio Shack. He also returned to college attending Tulane University. The quick learner rapidly moved up the ranks and was soon promoted to Product Manager at the corporate headquarters– Tandy Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas. It was here that he met Mike Bennett who later left Tandy to move to a small company in New England and recruited Bryan to join him.

Bryan moved to Westford, Massachusetts, in 1988 to join Interlan as the Director of Customer Support and was later promoted to Director of Operations. While at Interlan Bryan met his wife, Debbie Zalaznik, who was the Human Resources Representative for the company. They were married in April 1989.

In July 1989 Bryan and Debbie moved to Grapevine TX as Bryan was again recruited by Mike Bennett to work at another small company, PTXI. It was here that Bryan and Debbie's first child, Evan Ray, was born in December 1990. In February 1990, Bryan was offered a position at Microcom in Norwood, Massachusetts and the family packed up and went back to New England.

Bryan was recruited again by Mike Bennett to return to Texas, this time it was Austin, to work at Summagraphics. It was in Austin that the Holley's second child, Erica Lynn, was born in 1996.

After Summagraphics, Bryan decided to take a break from the high tech world and began working at Riverbend Church for Gerald Mann. Bryan managed the television production for the church and Gerald Mann Ministries. It was here that he had the privilege of working on productions with Larry Gatlin and Willie Nelson. Although he enjoyed his co-workers he truly missed the challenge of working in technology.

Bryan was recruited by Octocom in Chelmsford, Massachusetts to become their VP of Marketing in 1996. After just a few months, the Chairman who had recruited Bryan left Octocom and was replaced by Jim Norrod who became both a lifelong friend and a board member on Bryan's future companies. After Octocom went through a couple of acquisitions and a merger, a spinout company called ITK Telecommunications was formed and Bryan was named President and Chief Executive Officer.

In 1999 Bryan was recruited to become the Chief Executive Officer at Proteon, later named OpenRoute. There he was truly in his element. He managed to take a failing company, turn it around and merge it with another forming a new company Nx Networks which made both the shareholders and employees very happy. Upon completion of the merger, Bryan resigned and decided to retire from the high tech world. He and Debbie chose to move back to Austin in 2000.

Always someone who did things to the extreme, Bryan decided to take up cycling in his retirement. Although he was told that it was a young man's sport, that didn't stop him from trying to complete. He hired a cycling coach and rode for hours daily. He attended cycling camps in France and Spain, riding partial routes of the Tour de France. He eventually did come to realize that he wasn't going to keep up with those 20 year olds and his riding became more recreational.

He then turned his attention to classic cars. Not just one – but at the peak he owned six. He particularly loved the Thunderbirds from 1955-1957. He also rotated through some new luxury cars, such as Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley. Evan soon picked up a passion for cars just like his dad. The two of them enjoyed working on the cars together.

Bryan had many interests during his retirement. But what he took the greatest pleasure in was his family. He loved watching Evan play football and watching Erica dance. He took great pride in his children.

In 2011 Bryan was again recruited by Jim Norrod to work for him at Infinite Power Solutions in Denver, Colorado. Bryan commuted weekly from Austin. Following that, Bryan invested in and worked for Nimbus Concepts, a medical device company in Denver CO.

Bryan was a very charitable and generous man. He was known to assist friends who might need a hand. He also was committed to local charities. The organization he was most passionate about is CASA of Travis County – he admired their dedication to assisting the abused and neglected children of Travis County.

Bryan passed away on September 29, 2015. Although his life was cut short, Bryan lived a full life. He was loved and respected by many.

Bryan was predeceased by his brother, John, in 2007 and his grandparents, Joe and Dorothy Wilson and Willard Holley and Hubert and Jessie Sanders, and his in-laws John & Irmgard Zalaznik. He leaves behind his parents, wife, children, uncle David Wilson and his wife, Norma, cousins including Adam Wilson and Amanda Neck, sister-in-law Stacey Holley Sweeney and nephews, Aaron and Caleb Holley, brother-in-law John Zalaznik and his wife, Juretta, and their sons, Kyle and Keith Zalaznik.

A celebration of Bryan's life will be held on Sunday, October 11 at 1:30pm at the Smith Chapel at Riverbend Church.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to CASA of Travis County (www.casatravis.org).