Yesterday, the close-knit Navy SEAL community of Hampton Roads remembered another SEAL who has gone on to a better place.

Retired Capt. Stanley Holloway, 63, is remembered as a “gentle giant who never walked away from a fight,” according to Bill Sizemore of The Virginian-Pilot. He passed away on May 18 due to brain cancer, and his friends remembered how he fought the disease with “the same courage and tenacity he brought to every challenge of his long military career” during a memorial service held in his memory at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.

Holloway is a native of Wyoming and began his military career as an Army artillery officer in Vietnam. He eventually joined the Navy, and at some point, served as commanding officers of SEAL teams based in Little Creek.

According to retired Navy Captain Bob Rieve, who served as Holloway’s officer several times, “Stan loved being a SEAL. The fire in his gut never dimmed.” Even after retiring, Holloway continued to work with the military as a contractor working for Technology Management Co., where he developed non-lethal weapons for anti-piracy operations.

Among his passions, according to his colleagues, are skiing, cycling and camping, as well as being a doting grandfather to his twin grandsons. Holloway has two children.

Capt. Howard Lenway, Chief Staff Officer for SEAL teams based on the East Coast, said in a statement that Holloway was “an outstanding naval officer and fantastic SEAL. He will be sorely missed by his family, friends and the entire Naval Special Warfare community.” Due to the nature of SEAL missions, there were very few details given regarding Holloway’s SEAL career, but his colleagues were on hand to say that “his career stood as a model” for theirs.

Phil Litteer was an Army lieutenant like Holloway when they met in 1968. Of Holloway, he said: “He taught me to never back down from a fight if you’re in the right; he stood up for his principles even if he lost the fight.”