A retired Delaware Supreme Court justice who made waves as both the youngest person appointed to the state’s highest court and the longest-serving justice died on Tuesday. He was 75.
Justice Randy Holland, who retired in March 2017 after 30 years on the bench, was appointed to three 12-year terms by three separate governors, beginning in 1986 with then-Gov. Mike Castle. He remained even as the court saw historic turnover in which former Gov. Jack Markell picked four new jurists, including the chief justice, in one year.
“Delaware just lost one of its true servants,” said former Supreme Court Chief Justice Leo Strine Jr., who served with Holland from 2014 to 2017.
“No one loved our state or its bar more than Justice Holland …. We will miss his friendship and are profoundly sorry for his family’s irreplaceable loss.”
During his time on the bench, Holland wrote more than 700 reported opinions and several thousand case dispositive orders. While he was known as an expert on state constitutional law, he was also an avid Delaware historian.
