About

Professional Bio

Richard N. Holden was Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of North Texas at Dallas, a position he began in September 2010. He was a Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration, housed within the Center for American and International Law. After arriving in Dallas he also served as Associate Director and later Interim Director of the Caruth Police Institute, housed within Dallas Police headquarters. Prior to accepting the faculty position in Dallas, he was Director of the BJA-funded State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training Program (SLATT) from December 2004 to August 2010.

In 2004, Holden retired from the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Central Missouri (UCM) after 24 years. While at UCM, he held the position of professor and chair of the Criminal Justice Department and Director of the National Police Institute. He studied violent political movements since the early 1980s. Besides terrorism, Dr. Holden’s primary teaching interest is criminal justice management and law enforcement. He had written two editions of a police management book and an introduction to law enforcement. In addition, he wrote numerous articles for professional journals and regularly presented research papers at scholarly conferences.

Before entering academia, he was a Vietnam veteran, and a police officer in three cities; Bellingham, Washington; Colfax, Washington, and his home town of Irving, Texas. Within those departments, he was a patrol officer, certified firearms instructor, and crime prevention officer. He was a graduate of the Texas Crime Prevention Institute.

Holden holds a doctor of philosophy degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University, a Master of Science degree in human relations and management, and a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Abilene Christian University.

Obituary

Richard Nolan Holden, 76, passed away Wednesday, June 8, 2022, in Lee’s Summit, MO. Rick was most famous for his acquisition of titles; known by something different by almost everyone who knew him.

“Scooter” Holden was brother to Beverly and Ted, son of Charles and Virginia, and a kid who roamed the streets of Irving, Texas, through the 1950s knowing it was time to come home only when the porch lights came on for dinner.

Petty Officer, 2nd Class, Holden took an opportunity to drop from his first attempt at college to join the Navy during the Vietnam war. He trained in Kodiak, Alaska, and attained the rank of Aviation Electronics Technician N, Petty Officer 2nd Class, while serving in Attack Squadron 52, the “Knightriders,” supporting the maintenance of A-6E Intruders. He was honorably discharged in December 1968.

Officer Holden, recently married to his first wife Denise, used his military experience and interest in the concept of justice to serve as a police officer and certified firearms instructor in Bellingham and Colfax, Washington, and later in his hometown of Irving, Texas.

Dr. Holden attained a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University in 1980 and landed his first college teaching role at Central Missouri State University (CMSU) in Warrensburg, MO. In his first year at CMSU, he was given the opportunity to serve as interim department chair while the university searched for a replacement for the retiring chairman. They never found one better than Dr. Holden. Dr. Holden taught criminal justice and chaired the criminal justice department at CMSU (later UCM) for 24 years.

Mr. Holden, father of three (Julie, Jeff and Greg), rotated between “Dad” and “Coach.” He supported, loved, coached, and educated his children to adulthood and attained the title of “Papa” in 2008 when his first grandchild was born; eight more would follow. He and his second wife, Debbie, continued to provide warmth and love to all who knew them.

Services were held Monday, June 13, at Sweeney-Phillips & Holdren Funeral Home in Warrensburg, MO, at 10:00 AM. Interment was at Warrensburg Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Rick is survived by his wife Debbie, his children Julie (Andre), Jeff (Aubrey), Greg (Lilach), Kevin (Sarah), and Jennifer (Neal), his brother Ted, his sister Beverly, and his nine grandchildren.

I never knew a kinder man,

So calm and in control.

He lived his life unburdened

By the worries of this world.

Whether through the values that he carried

Or knowledge through books he read.

He never told us how to live,

But showed us how instead.

He will never be forgotten,

For all the time we shared.

He will never be forgotten

As a man who genuinely cared.

– Jeff Holden