LYNN — Former colleagues and friends are saddened by the death of former Lynn Police Chief John Fay Hollow Sr., who served the city for almost 35 years and died on Thursday.
Jack Hollow was 82.
“He was a wonderful man. He was a tremendous chief,” said Harry Coppola, a former Lynn city councilor. “He was a good man, always there when you needed him. He was generous to many.”
Coppola said that Hollow will be deeply missed by many people in the city, both because of the job he did as the police chief and his work for his religious community.
Hollow was born in West Lynn on Dec. 20, 1938. As a child, he played and — by his own admission to The Item — occasionally got into trouble on Walnut Street. Hollow went to Sacred Heart Grammar (Class of 1952) and St. Mary’s High School (Class of 1956).
He was married to his wife, Mary M. Kelter, for 62 years. Together they had six children.
Hollow started his professional career at Cambridge Electric, where he worked for 10 years as a boiler operator and auxiliary tender. He was recruited into the Lynn Police Department reserve in 1966 and became a patrolman in 1969. As a canine officer he worked with two German shepherds — Shannon and Flip — during his first years with the department. On Feb. 28, 1976, he was promoted to sergeant, on March 31, 1979 to lieutenant and on Feb. 23, 1985 to captain.
Hollow received a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement from Northeastern University in 1978, after completing his associate degree in 1976. In June 1981, he graduated from Anna Maria College in Paxton with a master’s degree in criminal justice.
As a lieutenant, Hollow established the original crime-prevention program, including neighborhood crime watches, “Drop a Dime on Crime,” security surveys for homes and businesses and addressing interested citizens on crime prevention.
As a captain in charge of the First Division of the Lynn Police Department, Hollow initiated in-service training for all patrol personnel at the Northeast Regional Police Institute; established a revolver-certification program for all personnel; and coordinated the department’s crime-prevention program.
In April 1987, 48-year-old Hollow was named police chief. He topped the Civil Service exam for chief among four Lynn police captains that February and became the youngest chief of the department since at least World War II and one of the youngest in the state.
“You’re the only chief I’ll swear in. You’ll be here a long time,” said Mayor Albert V. DiVirgilio as he swore Hollow in.
During his tenure as chief, the department revived the old beats patrols that Hollow and other veteran officers used to walk, introducing community policing. He has also established specialized drug and anti-crime teams and hired a crop of college-educated police officers.
Current Lynn Police Chief Christopher P. Reddy remembers Hollow as his commanding officer on the night division.
“He had high expectations of us and he wouldn’t tolerate poor performance, but we also knew that if we did our job, he would always have our back,” said Reddy.
As chief, Hollow established the domestic-violence unit, Reddy said, which at the time was the first such unit in Essex County. Reddy also remembers Hollow as a jokester.
“He would often joke with me that the best thing about East Lynn, where I grew up, was the bus back to West Lynn,” said Reddy. “He certainly left his mark on the department and on the city, and he will be missed.”
Hollow retired in the fall of 2000 at the age of 62 as the longest-serving police chief in the city’s history.
“I’d like to feel I was my officers’ biggest supporter,” said Hollow at that time.
Salvy Migliaccio, a former Lynn City Council president who served as councilor at large, said that Hollow was a compassionate chief of police who cared about the city and its people.
“I just remember him being out among the citizenry,” said Migliaccio. “He was a down-to-earth chief who had a big heart.”
“He was very willing to come up to neighborhood meetings and he was very willing to engage the public. He cared very much for the Lynn Police Department and about the community,” said Joseph Scanlon III, former Ward 1 city councilor and former Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development accountant.
Scanlon said that his father, Lynn Fire Chief Joseph E. Scanlon Jr., thought very highly of Hollow as well.
Lynn Deputy Police Chief Leonard E. Desmarais remembers Hollow as an old-school chief, who had no problem calling someone out if they messed up in the morning, but later asking about their family, aunts and uncles.
“He was very direct. He knew where he stood. If he had something to say he said it,” said Desmarais. “I always called him chief. Last time I spoke to him I called him chief.”
Hollow will be buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Lynn.
