Holmes, chairman, president and chief executive of Reynolds and Reynolds Co., built the ship years ago, but didn't have time to finish the rigging, the maze of rope that lashes the clipper's three masts and two dozen sails. Rather than let the project gather dust somewhere in his Oakwood home, however, Holmes hired someone to complete the work.
There, inside the glass case, stands a testament to Holmes, a CEO who detests leaving a job undone.
"When Dave gets involved in something, it's 110 percent," says his wife, Nancy.
After a decade of championing downtown redevelopment, Holmes last week took the wraps off an ambitious $24.4 million riverfront revitalization project that includes fountains, lasers, boat launches and an ice-skating rink near the confluence of the Mad and Great Miami rivers.
The plan, coupled with Holmes' long-standing dreams for a revitalized downtown, have earned him comparisons to other locally celebrated captains of industry past: NCR Corp.'s John H. Patterson, Delco's Charles F. Kettering, Mead Corp.'s George Mead, Huffy Corp.'s Horace M. Huffman Sr. and son, Horace M. Huffman Jr.
"I think he (Holmes) stands alone," says U.S. Rep. Tony Hall, D-Dayton. "He's one of the few people who's taking leadership in this city."
Not only does he bring money - the Reynolds and Reynolds Foundation has kicked in $1 million for the riverfront project - he "brings the ability to attract money," Hall adds
Tony Capizzi, the former Dayton city commissioner Holmes backed for mayor last year, piles on similar kudos.
"He shows more than any other CEO in this town that everything you do doesn't have to deal with net profits of your company," Capizzi says.
Holmes, 57, has an uneven track record with downtown face lifts. The Arcade Square building remains undeveloped, but Holmes literally danced in the streets in October 1996 after spending $5.5 million renovating the company's two historic buildings on South Ludlow Street.
Holmes, a sailing enthusiast whose fascination with water dates back more than 30 years, says the riverfront project is "personal."
"I don't want to live in a losing city," he said last week.
Holmes, who favors red power ties and blue dress shirts with white collars and cuffs, is a diminutive dynamo. He and his wife exercise three times a week with a personal fitness trainer. He often exercises on days in between. He sits on 11 corporate, civic, economic and advisory boards. He builds furniture in his spare time.
"He made a lot of the furniture in our house," says his wife, who co-chairs the riverfront funding campaign with her husband.
Holmes also is a voracious nail chewer.
"I guess that had to come out some time," Nancy Holmes says. "All our boys chew their nails, too."
Still, she says her husband is "high-energy, not high-strung."
Indeed, the same Holmes who dresses impeccably but eschews manicures offers a mix of seeming contradictions.
He's a CEO committed to community involvement, but when the bottom line demands it, he's not afraid to lay off people. Last year, he unveiled plans to build a $36.1 million office building at the Miami Valley Research Park, but also announced he was closing a manufacturing plant on Washington Street, leaving 112 employees jobless.
Profit or community? "I believe you're in business for a blend of both," Holmes says.
He's described as a strategist who doesn't make a decision without first marshaling all the facts. Yet he's been known to wager with his sales teams, challenging them to exceed targets. He's also gambled on endorsing candidates for local office, moves that have drawn raves as well as rants.
"I'm continually upset by the time and money ... Holmes spends meddling in Dayton politics," wrote one letter writer last year.
But his civic contributions have generated warmth. Moved by his leadership, Dayton City Manager Valerie Lemmie gave Holmes a hug at last week's unveiling of the riverfront project.
"You want to make people feel proud and appreciated," Lemmie says. "And sometimes a handshake doesn't cut it."
DAVID R. HOLMES
* BORN: Aug. 10, 1940
* PERSONAL: Wife, Nancy, three grown children.
* EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford University; master's degree in business administration from Northwestern University.
* CURRENT EMPLOYMENT: Named president and chief executive of Dayton-based Reynolds and Reynolds Co. in 1989, named chairman in 1990; joined Reynolds in 1984 as senior vice president of automotive systems, Computer Systems Division.
* VOLUNTEER POSITIONS: Member of Downtown Dayton Partnership; Downtown Riverfront Development committee; boards of NCR Corp., DP&L and Wright Health; Dayton Business Committee; Area Progress Council; advisory council for Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management; Miami Valley Economic Development Coalition Public Policy Committee; Dayton Public Schools Business Advisory Council; and the Colgate University of Families Steering Committee
* PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT: Former vice president and general manager of snack food business for Nabisco Brands Inc.
CREDIT: SKIP PETERSON/DAYTON DAILY NEWS