was a United States diplomat during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and later President of two urban institutions of higher education, Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, and Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida.
Born in Los Angeles, California, to Russian immigrant parents, Wolfe received an undergraduate degree from Reed College in Portland, and a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. Wolfe served in World War II, and was thereafter an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department
(unedited copied text)
Gregory Wolfe surveyed his audience of enthusiastic graduates and honorees when the first wave of emotion hit. This address would be the Florida International University president's last commencement speech. Wolfe, the school's third president, guided FIU's transition from a small, some said makeshift, two-year school into a full four-year university by 1981. During his seven-year tenure, from 1979 to 1986, FIU saw its enrollment skyrocket. He also set the toughest freshman admission standards of any public university in Florida He added graduate programs, student housing, the School of Engineering, the School of Nursing and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "At a time like this, you look back and ahead," Wolfe said at the ceremony at the Miami Beach Convention Center in April 1986. "We've enlarged our size well over 50 percent. The faculty is bigger, and we have introduced more doctoral programs and established new schools." Indeed, Wolfe, who died at his Coral Gables home on Saturday just a month shy of his 94th birthday, left a major foot-print on his adopted home. "Gregory brought a level of cosmopolitan, global vision of things, but he was a realist at the same time. He was very good at turning the impossible into the inevitable," said current FIU President Mark Rosenberg. "He was the one who convinced the Legislature and Board of Re-gents to allow FIU to have a robust graduate program offering. He is the father of a lot of our graduate programs. The Latin American and Caribbean Studies program took off largely because of his presence and his contacts in Washington - he was a Washington insider for a time -and that really helped us." For Wolfe, a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Ore., coming to Miami to lead FIU three years after its founding president Charles Perry left, was a bit of a surprise. Wolfe had already served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked for the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. From 1968 to 1974, Wolfe served as president of Portland State University in Oregon. He was born to Russian immigrants on Jan. 27, 1922, in Los Angeles. "I remember coming to visit when he was about to come and FIU was a little room on an empty airfield. It wasn't much, wasn't physically what it is today," son Gregory Nelson Wolfe said. Today, the school has had a building named for his father, the recently renovated Wolfe University Center, on the Biscayne Bay Campus. Gregory Nelson Wolfe described his father as a wonderful bon vivant with a tremendous joie de vivre who knew how to live well and with laughter while contemplating and accomplishing serious things. "When I came here, I asked myself why was I coming," Wolfe said in that 1986 commencement speech. "I said it was to see if it was possible to build a major public university in the tropics.
Seven years earlier, FIU historian Tom Riley, an administrator at the university since it opened its doors to its first students in 1972, remembers an electric atmosphere when Wolfe took office. "Greg brought a whole new tone to the university," Riley said. "He looked like a movie star. He had the charisma of a John Kennedy, and he was very bright. When he arrived, there were great feelings of expectation of what he would do for the school of which, he did a great deal." Said daughter Laura Ann: "Our father was a sophisticated, charming and erudite man with great energy, curiosity and passion for life. What I will treasure the most was his capacity to open his kind and listening heart." In addition to his wife, Mary Ann, Wolfe is survived by children Laura Ann, Gregory Nelson and Melissa Helene Wolfe; grandchildren Galen Nelson and Anna Wolfe Pauly and Marie Elise Wolfe-Callahan; and greatgrandchild Ko Sugihara Pauly. Funeral services will be private. A memorial service is planned for January at FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus.
~~~
Gregory Wolfe was appointed president in February 1979, bringing with him a distinguished record of international diplomatic service. Dr. Wolfe, a World War II veteran, had served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked on the White House staffs of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He was a linguist fluent Spanish, French, German and Portuguese who earned a Ph.D. at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. From 1968-1974, Dr. Wolfe had served as president of Portland State University in Oregon.
Dr. Wolfe set out to ensure that FIU would be "higher education's beacon in Miami." During his tenure, Dr. Wolfe succeeded in winning legislative approval and funding to move FIU from an upper division university to a full, four-year university. FIU's inaugural group of freshman arrived on Aug. 26, 1981 and they were feted as the "First-Class First Class." By the mid 1980s, enrollment grew to 16,500 and the faculty numbered nearly 600. Three new schools were added: the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the School of Nursing and the School of Engineering. Dr. Wolfe also employed his personal expertise in world affairs to continue to foster FIU's specialization in international studies.
Today, Dr. Wolfe is widely applauded for developing FIU's north campus. He oversaw significant expansion to the campus, then known as Bay Vista, as student enrollment there grew to 2,800 students. During his tenure the north campus added its first student residential housing, a new student center, an Aquatic Center and a library, and began offering a host of adult education programs.
Upon his resignation, the Miami Herald editorial pages praised his presidency. "This young institution gained a new sense of identity and direction under Dr. Wolfe's leadership. He was especially adept at articulating a vision of FIU as a truly international, multi-cultural institution serving Florida's most populous region and beyond." Dr. Wolfe remains a distinguished professor in FIU's Department of International Relations.
obit:
his sister: wed 1945
fiu yearbook, 1986
video;
Born in Los Angeles, California, to Russian immigrant parents, Wolfe received an undergraduate degree from Reed College in Portland, and a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. Wolfe served in World War II, and was thereafter an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department
(unedited copied text)
Gregory Wolfe surveyed his audience of enthusiastic graduates and honorees when the first wave of emotion hit. This address would be the Florida International University president's last commencement speech. Wolfe, the school's third president, guided FIU's transition from a small, some said makeshift, two-year school into a full four-year university by 1981. During his seven-year tenure, from 1979 to 1986, FIU saw its enrollment skyrocket. He also set the toughest freshman admission standards of any public university in Florida He added graduate programs, student housing, the School of Engineering, the School of Nursing and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "At a time like this, you look back and ahead," Wolfe said at the ceremony at the Miami Beach Convention Center in April 1986. "We've enlarged our size well over 50 percent. The faculty is bigger, and we have introduced more doctoral programs and established new schools." Indeed, Wolfe, who died at his Coral Gables home on Saturday just a month shy of his 94th birthday, left a major foot-print on his adopted home. "Gregory brought a level of cosmopolitan, global vision of things, but he was a realist at the same time. He was very good at turning the impossible into the inevitable," said current FIU President Mark Rosenberg. "He was the one who convinced the Legislature and Board of Re-gents to allow FIU to have a robust graduate program offering. He is the father of a lot of our graduate programs. The Latin American and Caribbean Studies program took off largely because of his presence and his contacts in Washington - he was a Washington insider for a time -and that really helped us." For Wolfe, a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Ore., coming to Miami to lead FIU three years after its founding president Charles Perry left, was a bit of a surprise. Wolfe had already served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked for the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. From 1968 to 1974, Wolfe served as president of Portland State University in Oregon. He was born to Russian immigrants on Jan. 27, 1922, in Los Angeles. "I remember coming to visit when he was about to come and FIU was a little room on an empty airfield. It wasn't much, wasn't physically what it is today," son Gregory Nelson Wolfe said. Today, the school has had a building named for his father, the recently renovated Wolfe University Center, on the Biscayne Bay Campus. Gregory Nelson Wolfe described his father as a wonderful bon vivant with a tremendous joie de vivre who knew how to live well and with laughter while contemplating and accomplishing serious things. "When I came here, I asked myself why was I coming," Wolfe said in that 1986 commencement speech. "I said it was to see if it was possible to build a major public university in the tropics.
Seven years earlier, FIU historian Tom Riley, an administrator at the university since it opened its doors to its first students in 1972, remembers an electric atmosphere when Wolfe took office. "Greg brought a whole new tone to the university," Riley said. "He looked like a movie star. He had the charisma of a John Kennedy, and he was very bright. When he arrived, there were great feelings of expectation of what he would do for the school of which, he did a great deal." Said daughter Laura Ann: "Our father was a sophisticated, charming and erudite man with great energy, curiosity and passion for life. What I will treasure the most was his capacity to open his kind and listening heart." In addition to his wife, Mary Ann, Wolfe is survived by children Laura Ann, Gregory Nelson and Melissa Helene Wolfe; grandchildren Galen Nelson and Anna Wolfe Pauly and Marie Elise Wolfe-Callahan; and greatgrandchild Ko Sugihara Pauly. Funeral services will be private. A memorial service is planned for January at FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus.
~~~
Gregory Wolfe was appointed president in February 1979, bringing with him a distinguished record of international diplomatic service. Dr. Wolfe, a World War II veteran, had served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked on the White House staffs of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He was a linguist fluent Spanish, French, German and Portuguese who earned a Ph.D. at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. From 1968-1974, Dr. Wolfe had served as president of Portland State University in Oregon.
Dr. Wolfe set out to ensure that FIU would be "higher education's beacon in Miami." During his tenure, Dr. Wolfe succeeded in winning legislative approval and funding to move FIU from an upper division university to a full, four-year university. FIU's inaugural group of freshman arrived on Aug. 26, 1981 and they were feted as the "First-Class First Class." By the mid 1980s, enrollment grew to 16,500 and the faculty numbered nearly 600. Three new schools were added: the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the School of Nursing and the School of Engineering. Dr. Wolfe also employed his personal expertise in world affairs to continue to foster FIU's specialization in international studies.
Today, Dr. Wolfe is widely applauded for developing FIU's north campus. He oversaw significant expansion to the campus, then known as Bay Vista, as student enrollment there grew to 2,800 students. During his tenure the north campus added its first student residential housing, a new student center, an Aquatic Center and a library, and began offering a host of adult education programs.
Upon his resignation, the Miami Herald editorial pages praised his presidency. "This young institution gained a new sense of identity and direction under Dr. Wolfe's leadership. He was especially adept at articulating a vision of FIU as a truly international, multi-cultural institution serving Florida's most populous region and beyond." Dr. Wolfe remains a distinguished professor in FIU's Department of International Relations.
obit:
his sister: wed 1945
fiu yearbook, 1986
video;
was a United States diplomat during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and later President of two urban institutions of higher education, Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, and Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida.
Born in Los Angeles, California, to Russian immigrant parents, Wolfe received an undergraduate degree from Reed College in Portland, and a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. Wolfe served in World War II, and was thereafter an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department
(unedited copied text)
Gregory Wolfe surveyed his audience of enthusiastic graduates and honorees when the first wave of emotion hit. This address would be the Florida International University president's last commencement speech. Wolfe, the school's third president, guided FIU's transition from a small, some said makeshift, two-year school into a full four-year university by 1981. During his seven-year tenure, from 1979 to 1986, FIU saw its enrollment skyrocket. He also set the toughest freshman admission standards of any public university in Florida He added graduate programs, student housing, the School of Engineering, the School of Nursing and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "At a time like this, you look back and ahead," Wolfe said at the ceremony at the Miami Beach Convention Center in April 1986. "We've enlarged our size well over 50 percent. The faculty is bigger, and we have introduced more doctoral programs and established new schools." Indeed, Wolfe, who died at his Coral Gables home on Saturday just a month shy of his 94th birthday, left a major foot-print on his adopted home. "Gregory brought a level of cosmopolitan, global vision of things, but he was a realist at the same time. He was very good at turning the impossible into the inevitable," said current FIU President Mark Rosenberg. "He was the one who convinced the Legislature and Board of Re-gents to allow FIU to have a robust graduate program offering. He is the father of a lot of our graduate programs. The Latin American and Caribbean Studies program took off largely because of his presence and his contacts in Washington - he was a Washington insider for a time -and that really helped us." For Wolfe, a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Ore., coming to Miami to lead FIU three years after its founding president Charles Perry left, was a bit of a surprise. Wolfe had already served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked for the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. From 1968 to 1974, Wolfe served as president of Portland State University in Oregon. He was born to Russian immigrants on Jan. 27, 1922, in Los Angeles. "I remember coming to visit when he was about to come and FIU was a little room on an empty airfield. It wasn't much, wasn't physically what it is today," son Gregory Nelson Wolfe said. Today, the school has had a building named for his father, the recently renovated Wolfe University Center, on the Biscayne Bay Campus. Gregory Nelson Wolfe described his father as a wonderful bon vivant with a tremendous joie de vivre who knew how to live well and with laughter while contemplating and accomplishing serious things. "When I came here, I asked myself why was I coming," Wolfe said in that 1986 commencement speech. "I said it was to see if it was possible to build a major public university in the tropics.
Seven years earlier, FIU historian Tom Riley, an administrator at the university since it opened its doors to its first students in 1972, remembers an electric atmosphere when Wolfe took office. "Greg brought a whole new tone to the university," Riley said. "He looked like a movie star. He had the charisma of a John Kennedy, and he was very bright. When he arrived, there were great feelings of expectation of what he would do for the school of which, he did a great deal." Said daughter Laura Ann: "Our father was a sophisticated, charming and erudite man with great energy, curiosity and passion for life. What I will treasure the most was his capacity to open his kind and listening heart." In addition to his wife, Mary Ann, Wolfe is survived by children Laura Ann, Gregory Nelson and Melissa Helene Wolfe; grandchildren Galen Nelson and Anna Wolfe Pauly and Marie Elise Wolfe-Callahan; and greatgrandchild Ko Sugihara Pauly. Funeral services will be private. A memorial service is planned for January at FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus.
~~~
Gregory Wolfe was appointed president in February 1979, bringing with him a distinguished record of international diplomatic service. Dr. Wolfe, a World War II veteran, had served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked on the White House staffs of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He was a linguist fluent Spanish, French, German and Portuguese who earned a Ph.D. at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. From 1968-1974, Dr. Wolfe had served as president of Portland State University in Oregon.
Dr. Wolfe set out to ensure that FIU would be "higher education's beacon in Miami." During his tenure, Dr. Wolfe succeeded in winning legislative approval and funding to move FIU from an upper division university to a full, four-year university. FIU's inaugural group of freshman arrived on Aug. 26, 1981 and they were feted as the "First-Class First Class." By the mid 1980s, enrollment grew to 16,500 and the faculty numbered nearly 600. Three new schools were added: the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the School of Nursing and the School of Engineering. Dr. Wolfe also employed his personal expertise in world affairs to continue to foster FIU's specialization in international studies.
Today, Dr. Wolfe is widely applauded for developing FIU's north campus. He oversaw significant expansion to the campus, then known as Bay Vista, as student enrollment there grew to 2,800 students. During his tenure the north campus added its first student residential housing, a new student center, an Aquatic Center and a library, and began offering a host of adult education programs.
Upon his resignation, the Miami Herald editorial pages praised his presidency. "This young institution gained a new sense of identity and direction under Dr. Wolfe's leadership. He was especially adept at articulating a vision of FIU as a truly international, multi-cultural institution serving Florida's most populous region and beyond." Dr. Wolfe remains a distinguished professor in FIU's Department of International Relations.
obit:
his sister: wed 1945
fiu yearbook, 1986
video;
Born in Los Angeles, California, to Russian immigrant parents, Wolfe received an undergraduate degree from Reed College in Portland, and a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. Wolfe served in World War II, and was thereafter an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department
(unedited copied text)
Gregory Wolfe surveyed his audience of enthusiastic graduates and honorees when the first wave of emotion hit. This address would be the Florida International University president's last commencement speech. Wolfe, the school's third president, guided FIU's transition from a small, some said makeshift, two-year school into a full four-year university by 1981. During his seven-year tenure, from 1979 to 1986, FIU saw its enrollment skyrocket. He also set the toughest freshman admission standards of any public university in Florida He added graduate programs, student housing, the School of Engineering, the School of Nursing and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "At a time like this, you look back and ahead," Wolfe said at the ceremony at the Miami Beach Convention Center in April 1986. "We've enlarged our size well over 50 percent. The faculty is bigger, and we have introduced more doctoral programs and established new schools." Indeed, Wolfe, who died at his Coral Gables home on Saturday just a month shy of his 94th birthday, left a major foot-print on his adopted home. "Gregory brought a level of cosmopolitan, global vision of things, but he was a realist at the same time. He was very good at turning the impossible into the inevitable," said current FIU President Mark Rosenberg. "He was the one who convinced the Legislature and Board of Re-gents to allow FIU to have a robust graduate program offering. He is the father of a lot of our graduate programs. The Latin American and Caribbean Studies program took off largely because of his presence and his contacts in Washington - he was a Washington insider for a time -and that really helped us." For Wolfe, a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Ore., coming to Miami to lead FIU three years after its founding president Charles Perry left, was a bit of a surprise. Wolfe had already served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked for the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. From 1968 to 1974, Wolfe served as president of Portland State University in Oregon. He was born to Russian immigrants on Jan. 27, 1922, in Los Angeles. "I remember coming to visit when he was about to come and FIU was a little room on an empty airfield. It wasn't much, wasn't physically what it is today," son Gregory Nelson Wolfe said. Today, the school has had a building named for his father, the recently renovated Wolfe University Center, on the Biscayne Bay Campus. Gregory Nelson Wolfe described his father as a wonderful bon vivant with a tremendous joie de vivre who knew how to live well and with laughter while contemplating and accomplishing serious things. "When I came here, I asked myself why was I coming," Wolfe said in that 1986 commencement speech. "I said it was to see if it was possible to build a major public university in the tropics.
Seven years earlier, FIU historian Tom Riley, an administrator at the university since it opened its doors to its first students in 1972, remembers an electric atmosphere when Wolfe took office. "Greg brought a whole new tone to the university," Riley said. "He looked like a movie star. He had the charisma of a John Kennedy, and he was very bright. When he arrived, there were great feelings of expectation of what he would do for the school of which, he did a great deal." Said daughter Laura Ann: "Our father was a sophisticated, charming and erudite man with great energy, curiosity and passion for life. What I will treasure the most was his capacity to open his kind and listening heart." In addition to his wife, Mary Ann, Wolfe is survived by children Laura Ann, Gregory Nelson and Melissa Helene Wolfe; grandchildren Galen Nelson and Anna Wolfe Pauly and Marie Elise Wolfe-Callahan; and greatgrandchild Ko Sugihara Pauly. Funeral services will be private. A memorial service is planned for January at FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus.
~~~
Gregory Wolfe was appointed president in February 1979, bringing with him a distinguished record of international diplomatic service. Dr. Wolfe, a World War II veteran, had served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department and worked on the White House staffs of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He was a linguist fluent Spanish, French, German and Portuguese who earned a Ph.D. at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. From 1968-1974, Dr. Wolfe had served as president of Portland State University in Oregon.
Dr. Wolfe set out to ensure that FIU would be "higher education's beacon in Miami." During his tenure, Dr. Wolfe succeeded in winning legislative approval and funding to move FIU from an upper division university to a full, four-year university. FIU's inaugural group of freshman arrived on Aug. 26, 1981 and they were feted as the "First-Class First Class." By the mid 1980s, enrollment grew to 16,500 and the faculty numbered nearly 600. Three new schools were added: the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the School of Nursing and the School of Engineering. Dr. Wolfe also employed his personal expertise in world affairs to continue to foster FIU's specialization in international studies.
Today, Dr. Wolfe is widely applauded for developing FIU's north campus. He oversaw significant expansion to the campus, then known as Bay Vista, as student enrollment there grew to 2,800 students. During his tenure the north campus added its first student residential housing, a new student center, an Aquatic Center and a library, and began offering a host of adult education programs.
Upon his resignation, the Miami Herald editorial pages praised his presidency. "This young institution gained a new sense of identity and direction under Dr. Wolfe's leadership. He was especially adept at articulating a vision of FIU as a truly international, multi-cultural institution serving Florida's most populous region and beyond." Dr. Wolfe remains a distinguished professor in FIU's Department of International Relations.
obit:
his sister: wed 1945
fiu yearbook, 1986
video;
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
