WILLIAM B. ‘BILL’ HOLTZMAN

Bill Holtzman came close to spending his career in the apple industry. After earning a degree in horticulture from Virginia Tech, the Shenandoah County native attended Cornell University for a master’s degree in pomology, the science of growing fruit. For more than a decade, he worked for Turkey Knob Orchards in Mount Jackson.

Instead, Holtzman purchased Nelson Oil Co. in 1972. According to the company’s history, he had $5,000 in cash and borrowed $37,000 from First Virginia Bank, using his Thunderbird as collateral. He continued working at the orchard for months while getting Holtzman Oil off the ground at night and on the weekends.

Today’s Holtzman Corp. supplies gas and diesel to more than 150 stations and commercial pump facilities throughout the Shenandoah Valley, Northern Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. The company includes divisions in industries ranging from propane to bagged ice distribution.

Holtzman is equally known for his civic engagement, and in July 2024, the town of Mount Jackson declared July 9 “Bill Holtzman Day.” Among his numerous community efforts, Holtzman has served on the Shenandoah County School Board, the Mount Jackson Town Council and as a past president of the Mount Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

Holtzman sat from 2010 to 2014 on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed him to the board again in 2023. The Holtzman Alumni Center at Virginia Tech is named in his honor.