John Wolfe

John Wolfe, a lifelong writer, veteran journalist and preeminent communications executive from Bronxville, N.Y., died Sunday, May 19, surrounded by his family members. He was 72.

His beloved wife, Ray Ann, and his two children-Caitlin and Terrence-were at his side when he passed at White Plains Hospital Sunday afternoon. They were playing Irish music for him.

A proud Chicago native who fell in love with New York, Wolfe spent a life in communications in a career equally divided between journalism and public relations. He carried himself with Midwestern modesty and courtesy and rose to work effectively with New York City's media and advertising elite. He was most recently a leading PR/Communications consultant in Manhattan working with organizations that included the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), where he was Director of Communications.

He was a man of exceptional wisdom, talent, kindness, empathy and generosity. He taught his children to examine their lives carefully and make their choices intentionally. He was most grateful for his family and adored spending time with his adult children, following their lives and careers with affection and pride.

Wolfe was a Renaissance man in the truest sense. He had broad interests, a network of trusted colleagues and a wide circle of friends. He and his wife met in Rome on the campus of Loyola University's Rome program. They later married in Michigan, and their work during their 38-year-long marriage took them to assignments based in Chicago, London and New York. They especially enjoyed taking family and friends to the Hamptons in the summer, and Wolfe loved the peace of spending time with them on the beach.

He called his daughter, Caitlin, "Bundle," and took her on her first trip abroad to celebrate her graduation from the 8th grade, just the two of them. He took his son, Terrence, on trips around the country trying to see games in all the Major League Baseball stadiums. They hit 14 of them.

Wolfe had a peerless sense of humor. He could eviscerate friends and colleagues with cutting quips, but always with a humorous warmth, and he delighted in hearing co-workers jokingly tell him his work was "badly flawed," as one former AP colleague, Mark Rosati, recalled. He frequently traded lines with friends from his favorite novels, poems and movies, and he loved to read fiction and non-fiction, watch great films and argue politics.

He was a fiercely loyal mentor and career advisor to colleagues, friends and family, and he reveled in their successes. He devoured news stories and loved critiquing the media and advertising world. A former co-worker at Advertising Age, the author and broadcaster Bob Garfield, called him a "Catholic mensch" in an AdAge tribute.

He bonded with colleagues over literature and held forth with friends at Maggie's Place in New York or the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, debating the power of language in Hemingway and Fitzgerald or the finest lines from Yeats and Auden. Wolfe found the time to write creatively, as well, mainly about his journalism days.

He began his journalism career in 1976 as a reporter for the legendary City News Bureau of Chicago and later worked as a reporter and writer for the Kansas City Times (now Star), the Chicago Sun-Times and the Associated Press before joining Advertising Age, where he worked for 10 years as an editor in Chicago, London and New York.

Colleagues remember Wolfe telling stories with relish about the Chicago news he covered, from the fatal elevated train crash in 1977 to a Chicago visit by Prince Charles or the murder trial of John Wayne Gacy. He savored the columns of Mike Royko and the lore of hard-knocks Chicago reporting, often harkening back to the raucous traditions of "The Front Page."

Wolfe also appreciated culture and the arts. He spent three years as executive editor of House Beautiful, a monthly Hearst publication, and he served as managing editor-and later editor-in-chief-of Art & Antiques magazine.

He moved on from journalism to become Director of Public Affairs for the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) and later worked as Director of Communications for Mindshare North America and for GroupM. More recently, Wolfe was Senior Vice President at DiGennaro Communications, a Manhattan-based boutique PR agency specializing in the advertising, marketing and media sectors.

A close colleague, Harley Griffiths, 4A's Senior Vice President and Member, Engagement & Development, described Wolfe admiringly as a "wordsmith" and "a man of letters" who stood out in the advertising world. "John was a consummate PR pro, a titan in the advertising and marketing industry, serving both the 4As and ANA," Griffiths said. "He was a good man and great friend, and he will be terribly missed."

To his friends, Wolfe was a lighthouse. He saw people and listened closely to their concerns. He was big-hearted and genuinely interested in their lives. He made each feel like the most important person in the room. Colleagues responded to him. He could stride into an office with a commanding, gregarious presence or bring joy and mirth to a party. His deep knowledge of journalism made him particularly effective in PR, because he knew exactly what media needed.

He respected journalists and tried not to waste their time. He had many friends in both the media and business worlds, and he loved sharing a pint with them at the local pub. He could see right through posers, calling them "odious reptiles," but he could also laugh hardest at himself. He thrived and delighted in Manhattan's media and mad-men world. He often paraphrased a scene from "The Front Page" in which reporter Hildy Johnson, banging away at his typewriter, bellows, "I'm calling the sheriff a hyena!" - and his editor, Walter Burns, retorts, "Pour it on, Kiddo."

Wolfe was a graduate of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, IL, and of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA, and he followed the Eagles' athletics success avidly throughout his life.

Wolfe adored working in Manhattan and returned to his beloved Chicago frequently every year to visit friends and relatives. He was a lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, and he marked Bloomsday with friends every year on June 16 to remember author James Joyce, one of his favorites.

Wolfe is survived by his wife, Ray Ann Kelly of Bronxville; his daughter, Caitlin Wolfe; his son, Terrence Wolfe, and his fiancée, Megan McCloskey, all of New York City.

Visitation will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, May 30, at the Fred H. McGrath & Son Inc. Funeral Home at 20 Cedar Street, Bronxville, NY 10708.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations can be sent in John Wolfe's memory to Loyola Academy, 1100 Laramie Avenue, Wilmette IL 60091, or online at GoRamblers.org; and also to Loyola University's John Felice Rome Center program, through Loyola University Chicago, Alumni Relations, 820 N. Michigan Av., Chicago IL 60661 (or Make a Gift to the JFRC. For more details, call 312-915-7660).

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