Birth date: Jul 10, 1954 Death date: Feb 7, 2025
Holly Rizzo, 70, passed away February 7 in San Bernardino, California. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, the oldest of three children, Holly grew up in the Detroit area. She loved learning, writing, outdoor activities and people. At the ti Read Obituary
Holly was our neighbor for the last seven years. We would share flowers and veggies from our gardens. stand outside, talking for hours about life about nothing. She would leave little trinkets on our gate during the holidays and I would drop off her favorite Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream. we will miss her very much.
Although we were only acquaintances and were colleagues only for a few years, Holly was, in every interaction at Cal State Fullerton, a ray of sunshine in my day.
I had the good fortune to have her as a mountain neighbor. I appreciated her insights, as a longtime resident, about life in the San Bernardino Mountains. I valued being able to compare notes with her on making it through the huge snowstorms a couple of years ago.
And her recommendation of LouEddie's Pizza was spot on. I have had lovely, warm meals there with family on a number of occasions.
The days seem a little less bright now. But I will cherish the memories of our conversations and her good cheer.
-- Vivien Angelus
What a profound loss! Holly was an amazing person and friend. I worked with her for over 20 years in guest teaching the library-skills component of her classes. In all those years, she had an ever-present enthusiasm in the classroom. I spoke with countless numbers of her students, and they all had the same comment: "Professor Ocasio-Rizzo is terrific! She is so bubbly in class, but at the same time she is so experienced and smart in journalistic writing." So true, for the hundreds of students she inspired! We will all miss your smile, your laugh, and your brightness, Holly! Sincerely,
John Hickok, CSUF Communications Librarian
Oh, Holly. Or, as my husband always said "Holly Jolly!" And she was - joyful, fun, smart with a cheeky sense of humor. We met at Cal State University Fullerton - two part-time adjunct professors hired because of our common experience deep in the trenches of journalism. It was lovely to cultivate a great friend relatively later in life, and this friendship lasted more than 20 years. Together we struggled with the foreign lingo of academia (Yes, Google was our friend). Together we volunteered at many CSUF functions and always went to graduations together, ending the days with lunch or dinner at local restaurants. At the last graduation we attended post-COVID, we splurged and had the very $$$ John Dory dish at the Summit House. We deserved it, she insisted, after learning and teaching via ZOOM on the fly.
We also discovered mutual links to Michigan! Holly grew up in the mitten-shaped state, and my parents were born and raised there. We spoke often about the Detroit Zoo, where you could turn a plastic key in a speaker, and hear facts about the animals. We fondly remembered Sanders Candy & Ice Cream Shoppe, with its distinctive red-and-white striped awning. She loved the famous Bumpy Cake. We were very proud to be the only two people we knew who could make pasties - the wonderful meat and vegetable pies famously made in the Upper Peninsula. Holly would spend many Christmas Days with us, and she also came down to our house in the South Bay to make pasties one night. It was so fun, but we both agreed that neither of us had a talent for making dough from scratch. We vowed, that the next time we made pasties, we'd get store-bought dough. That dough is still in my refrigerator, as we'd planned to make pasties again this winter.
Holly and my husband hit it off for their love of the Bay Area - he was raised and worked in the San Francisco area and she worked at the Chronicle. They'd have great conversations about places and restaurants and culture and all things San Francisco when she visited our home.
Somehow, although we both are cat moms, we realized we had a love for sloths (this is no reflection on our work ethic). This resulted in years of back-and-forth sloth gifts, Beany Babies, notepads, pens, stickers, backpacks. Pretty much anything sloth.
Well, Holly, my dear friend, you would be happy to know that your kitties, Maui and Ginger, are doing well in the cat condo that David bought for them, and they are getting veterinary care to make sure they continue to thrive.
Missing you so much, Buddy!
-Anne La Jeunesse
