Dave Hollis was president of sales for the film studio at the Walt Disney Company
(Picture: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)Dave Hollis, a former Disney executive and life coach, died at the weekend at his Texas home aged 47 — his representatives have confirmed.
His ex-wife, the writer Rachel Hollis with whom Mr Hollis had four children, led the tributes to him.
She wrote on Instagram on Tuesday: “We are so devastated. I have no words and my heart is too broken to find them. Please wrap the kids in prayer as we try and navigate through the unthinkable.”
No cause of death has been given but Mr Hollis had recently been in hospital with a reported heart-related issue.
Who was Dave Hollis?
Mr Hollis was president of sales for the film studio at the Walt Disney Company, where he was credited with helping to relaunch the Star Wars brand after the media behemoth took over LucasArt in 2012.
He also helped to oversee the growth of the Frozen franchise. Over a period of huge success for the Disney empire, Mr Hollis helped it to secure 22 per cent of all box-office ticket sales in the US in the year up to 2018. In 2017, Disney films grossed more than $6 billion (£5bn).
Around this time, his ex-wife published the self-help book Girl, Wash Your Face. This proved to be a big success and led to a sequel called Girl, Stop Apologising.
Of this time, Mr Hollis said on his website: “I’d come through a mid-life moment where having reached a place I’d been pushing toward for 20 years in Hollywood, the existential questions of ‘is this it?’ fused with the belief in a vision for the mission ahead.
“Pushing against a lifetime of pragmatic wiring and a love for certainty, I disrupted a life that was pretty good on paper for the chance for what I believed would be something far greater.
“The hope that impact might deliver more meaning, something that felt like it mattered more. And so, in January 2018 I gave notice. I’d leave my role as sales head for the film studio I served for 17 years and made a leap to move our family from LA to a small town in Texas called Dripping Springs.”
He then became chief executive of the Hollis Company, which produced media content, books and events.
However, he and Rachel filed for divorce in 2020 after marrying in 2004. Mr Hollis said: “Divorce is the worst. For everyone. Public divorce didn’t make it any more fun. A divorce that leaves a community that you’ve loved so much also reeling in sadness mixed with justifiable frustration, some even anger… devastating.”
His most recent blog post showed he was in a new relationship with a lady called Heidi Powell and had reconnected with his faith in God. He also founded the Dave Hollis Giving Fund to help underprivileged young people.
Throughout this period, he continued to write books and work as a life coach.
“If you’re going through a dark period, I would encourage you to believe that there’s light at some point in this journey for you too,” Mr Hollis said in one post. “If you’ve made mistakes that you don’t think you’ll recover from, I’m here to say that some of my biggest mistakes have turned out to literally save my life.”
Tributes to Dave Hollis
Self-help guru and author Brendon Burchard wrote on social media: “’Dave was a good man, a loving father, an inspiring teacher, and a dear friend. We spent a lot of time together.
“I loved his caring and empathy, his energy and enthusiasm, his vulnerability in sharing his struggles, and his love of his children and helping people.”
Fellow former Disney executive, Jonathan Flora, wrote on LinkedIn: “Sorry to hear the sad news. Dave a was a friend for many years and achieved so much in such a short time. He will be missed. God bless his family, especially his young children.”
Kevan Lyon, Mr Hollis’s literary agent, told CBS News: “I had the great honour of working with him on several books, including his most recent release with his daughter Noah.
"My thoughts are with his children and his family now in this very difficult and devastating time."
