Paul Howard Holloway
June 6, 2023
Dr. Paul Holloway, of Gainesville, Florida passed away on June 6, 2023 with his family by his side. Born in Indiana in 1943 to Charles and Pauline Holloway, Paul grew up on a chicken farm in Palm Harbor, Florida, where he graduated from Tarpon Springs High School. In 1964, he married the love of his life, Bette. Paul graduated from Florida State University (BS 1965, MS 1966) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (PhD 1972).
He is proceeded in death by his parents and is survived by his wife, Bette Holloway, and children Michael (Kathryn) Holloway, Brian (Laura) Holloway, and Kimberly Holloway. He was a devoted husband and father as well as a wonderful “Tata” to his grandchildren Jacob (Gaylen) Holloway, Amanda Holloway, and Nathan Holloway. Paul is also survived by four brothers Charles (Brenda) Holloway, Allen (Jill) Holloway, Art (Jeanette) Holloway, and Gene (Myra) Holloway, many nieces and nephews, innumerable close friends, and good neighbors the Mikell and Myers families.
After working at Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1978 Paul joined the faculty of the Department of Material Science and Engineering at the University of Florida where he worked until he retired in 2013. Paul’s passion was mentoring people; one of his most important legacies will be the over 100 graduate students he advised as a professor.
Paul’s professional work was recognized with too many awards, citations, medals and honors to list them all. He was particularly proud of recognition of his teaching, including being named the UF College of Engineering Teacher of the Year, the UF Graduate School Faculty Doctoral Mentoring Award, and the University of Florida Teacher-Scholar of the Year -- the oldest and most prestigious award offered to UF Faculty. Paul also valued awards that came about from collaborations, including his honorary doctorate from University of the Free State, South Africa, and the University of Helsinki Medal. He appreciated awards for service to his professional community, including being named an inaugural American Vacuum Society (AVS) Fellow, an AVS Honorary Member, and American Society for Metals International (ASM) Fellow; as well as those associated with the quality of his research – including the AVS Albert Nerken Award and being named a UF Distinguished Professor. It was a particular honor for Paul to be named the Ellis Verink Endowed Professor, an honor named after one of Paul’s own mentors.
For his entire life Paul’s passion was fishing and when alligator hunting became legal again, he also enjoyed early mornings on the water hunting the large reptiles. He grew up fishing near Tarpon Springs around Honeymoon Island. More recently, Paul loved fishing out of Yankeetown, Fl., having a successful redfish trip as recently as a few months ago. He also was an avid UF and FSU sports fan.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the American Vacuum Society AVS Thin Film Division Paul H. Holloway Young Investigator Award (www.avs.org 125 Maiden Lane, 15B New York, NY 10038 Peter@avs.org) or a charity of your choice.
Crevasse's Simple Cremation is honored to serve the Holloway Family.
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To all the family,
My sincere condolences. Paul and I graduated with the Class of 61. Always remembered him as a kind and compassionate person. May he rest in peace.
Frances Billiris Daskarolis
I worked with Dr. Holloway in MSE, and always found him to be cordial, funny, professional, and a wonderful human being. The world has lost a Class A fellow. May God bless him and his family and bring peace and serenity to everyone who cared for him. I'll miss him being present in the world.
So sorry for your loss🙏🏻
We are so sad to hear of Paul’s passing. We do hope that your memories of Paul help you all through this difficult time.Â
I am so sorry for your loss, he was a wonderful man and I am honored to have been able to meet him. Thinking of the family in this hard time.
So sorry for the loss of cousin Paul. My heart goes out to the entire Holloway family.
To the Holloway family we send you our condolences. Â Paul was a wonderful man and he will be missed immensely by many. Â We ask for peace and comfort for you all during this difficult time.
Love Bob & Kim H.
As a classmate of Paul’s from early elementary school to our graduation, Class of 1961, Tarpon Springs High School, I have many wonderful memories of this fine man.  Paul was our class president our senior year as well as voted Most Likely to Succeed along with other superlatives and was one of the speakers at our graduation.  He was well respected for his academic achievements and well liked for his easy going, forthright personality.  I am so sorry for your loss.  May your sweet memories of this wonderful man bring you comfort in the days ahead. Â
Carol Agner Butler, Classmate & Friend
Praying for the time of need
So sorry for your loss. Â Sending prayers for the family. Â Â
Prayers & condolences to the family.
Bette I'm so sorry for your loss. Bub Had a wonderful Life hopefully It will be a comfort in your Time of grief.
Sending heartfelt condolences to the Holloway Family during this sad time. Paul was always such a kind, compassionate and happy guy. I graduated in the same high school class with him here in Tarpon Springs. We will always remember him.
Good neighbors
Our neighborhood is going to miss Paul! After they moved down the lane from us we all became close friends and family. He was one of the smartest men I have ever known, but one of the humblest at the same time. Our prayers go up for his entire family.
What a wonderful legacy he leaves behind. Â A life well lived. Â Our condolences to the entire Holloway family.
To many his name was Dr. Paul Holloway. To others he was husband, father, and many more notable titles. For those that grew up with him he was known as Bub. Bub was a highly intelligent man that cultivated his knowledge through devoted studies, enriched through years of practice and application. He shared his collected knowledge and protocol with countless young minds through the world of education. The length and impact that he had on his students may never be fully appreciated, but unquestionably a gift of immense value. His awards were numerous, and his credentials were world renown.
Without a doubt he was an exceptional scholar, but even more he was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He loved to fish and laugh. Even as he confronted this terrible disease, he managed the strength to share a smile. I regret not sharing more time with him over the last few years and yet I’ll hold on to his memory and his numerous accomplishments, most of all his smile.
His loving cousin,
Clay
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For the almost 40 years that I’ve known Paul, he has been the most kind, considerate, positive, helpful, and most importantly, humble man that I have ever known. And he passed all of these qualities and more on to his children.Â
We offer our sincere condolences to Bette, Kimberly, Brian and Laura, Mike and Kathy, and his grandchildren, on the passing of this GREAT scholar GREAT man.
My Dear Bette,  I was so very sad to hear of Paul’s passing.  So many years have gone by since we all were together, but, I never forgot all the fun times we had together.  I have thought of you both over the years and remember how good you both were to me as a young married woman and when I suffered that great loss in 1965.  I especially remember all the good meals that Bill and i shared at you cosy humble home in Tallahassee.  Those were the halcyon days and so many memories are flooding back. To me you both epitomized  what a happily married couple should be.  May your children be a comfort in this very difficult time.  Lots of love, Jean Bryson
I was sad to hear of Paul's passing but happy to think back on all the time I spent with him over the years at U of F. He was one of the first scientists to use Auger electron spectrometers to study thin films and was also one of our first customers when I started our company 33 years ago.  His professionalism, knowledge, kindness, and humor will be missed but never forgotten.