Fla. member, veteran of U.S. atmospheric atomic testing, passes

enlarge

Maj. Daniel Hollander


Maj. Douglas E. Jessmer
Public Affairs Officer
Florida Wing

FLORIDA -- Maj. Daniel Hollander of the Central Brevard Senior Squadron, who participated in the last round of America’s atmospheric atomic tests, died Feb. 1. He was 68.

Hollander spent more than five decades in aviation, his last five of which were in Civil Air Patrol. He served in both the U.S. and Israeli air forces and was a commercial pilot and businessman.

Born July 9, 1941, in Israel, Hollander died in the Wuesthoff Hospice Care Center in Rockledge.

He came to America from Israel in 1958 as a teenager with command of “about five words in English,” according to his Internet biography. Within a few months he joined the U.S. Air Force and was an aircraft instrument mechanic from 1959-1963 at Patrick Air Force Base near Cocoa Beach.

In 1962, Hollander was sent to Christmas Island in the south Pacific Ocean for Operation Dominic. A crew member on an airplane that penetrated nuclear mushroom clouds for scientific measurements, he was exposed to what he described as “extensive amounts” of radiation.

After leaving the Air Force, he became an active commercial pilot and businessman who dealt with large aviation companies, airlines and security firms.

In 1969 he moved back to Israel and raised four children — twin boys, now 38, and two girls, now 33 and 29. After two decades of business jet sales, civilian flying and Israeli Air Force reserve duty as a C-130 loadmaster, he returned to Florida in 1988 to pursue aviation business opportunities.

In 1997 Hollander was diagnosed with lymphoma and was subsequently placed on 100 percent service-connected disability status.  He received bone marrow transplants in 2000 and 2007. Until his recent illness, he said, he was “going strong again, like a zero-time, overhauled aircraft engine.”

He joined Civil Air Patrol in November 2005 and commanded the Central Brevard squadron for three years until illness forced him to resign his command in December 2009. He was a senior pilot and a rated transport mission pilot in CAP and was promoted to his current grade in June 2009.

"He was extremely dedicated to the program," said Col. Chris Moersch, Florida Wing commander. "He was dedicated to the mission. He took his work very seriously."

He is survived by his wife, Deborah Davis-Hollander; his mother, Lea Hollander; his sons, Tal Hollander and Nir Hollander; his daughters, Shili Hollander and Keren Hollander Romen, all of Israel; brothers, Barry Hollander of San Francisco and Gadi Hollander of London; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service with military honors is set for 10 a.m. Feb. 3 in Florida Memorial Gardens, 5950 S. U.S. Route 1, Rockledge. Burial will be in Israel.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Civil Air Patrol, 908 Airport Road, Merritt Island, Fla. 32952.


First Lt. Bill Weiler, public affairs officer for Florida Wing Group 4, contributed to this story.