Family, friends recall Dan Hollis’s positive energy, love of life

On Tuesday, Dan Hollis’s aunt, Liz Hollis Fulks, wrote that she was hoping for a miracle as he lay in a Boston hospital bed battling a severe brain injury following a reported assault in Brighton last weekend, an injury doctors said he would not survive.

Sadly, that miracle wasn’t meant to be.

Dan Hollis, an Emerson college sophomore and member of its men’s lacrosse team, succumbed to his injuries around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to his family.

“True to his caring and giving nature, Daniel chose to be an organ donor. We pray that his gifts will prevent other families from experiencing the heartbreak we are currently experiencing,” read the family’s post to the CaringBridge site dedicated to Holllis’s care.

Meanwhile, Boston police say they’re continuing to actively investigate what happened Saturday night. Hollis was believed to have been assaulted and then hit his head as he fell. The incident happened around 1:30 a.m. Saturday on Park Vale Avenue. Anyone who may know anything about what happened is urged to contact the department.

At Emerson, fellow students, along with professors and Hollis’s lacrosse coach, are all speaking about the qualities that made Hollis someone they wanted to be around.

“I remember meeting Dan for the first time in person and knowing immediately that he was the perfect fit for our team and community — instantly he was someone that I wanted to be around and coach,” Matthew Colombini, the men’s lacrosse team coach, said in a statement to The Berkeley Beacon, Emerson’s independent student newspaper. “Day in and day out he provides energy and laughter, an upbeat presence that is needed during a long season. Everyone around him was better because of it.”

In a letter to the college community, President Lee Pelton wrote of Hollis’s positive attitude, and his love of music and sports.

“He loved life and life loved him,” Pelton wrote. “He was a young man maturing into the fullness of the person he was meant to be. No doubt, that is why the news of his death at such an early age has left us so breathless, our very spirits weakened and humbled by the news, leaving us, as the poet Matthew Arnold wrote, ‘… here as on a darkling plain, Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight.’”

A vigil was set for noon Thursday at Emerson’s Semel Theatre, the letter said.

In a column for the Beacon, fellow student Aaron J. Miller recalled meeting Hollis in an introductory college writing class, describing how they quickly became friends.

“Dan was always committed to what he believed in, whether that was on the field or off,” Miller wrote. “He never gave in to hardship and always looked for the best in anyone.”

Emerson student Dan Hollis remembered at a campus vigil today. His family saying “True to his caring and giving nature, Daniel chose to be an organ donor. We pray that his gifts will prevent other families from experiencing the heartbreak we are currently experiencing.” #wcvb pic.twitter.com/KrKpbSDKgs

— antoinette antonio (@antoinetteA) October 3, 2019

The Boston Police Department urges anyone with information about the incident to contact Boston Police Homicide Detectives at 617-343-4470, or anonymously by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 -800-494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).