[David Lott]

Don Wolff of Pittsburgh, a dedicated lurker on this site for many years, and an active friend of golf in Pennsylvania, has died.

Here is an obituary from Pittsburgh Post Gazette. I will add only that Don was one of the greatest guys I have ever known. He was decent, charming, thoughtful, funny and a rock of reliability in everything he did.

WOLFF DONALD DUNZEE, JR.
On Thursday November 20, 2008, age 63. Beloved husband of 40 years of Carolyn "Bunny" Davis Wolff. Father of Julie Wolff Rost and Andrew Dunzee Wolff. Grandfather of Sloan, Maxwell and James Rost. Son of the late Jane Sloan Wolff & Donald Dunzee Wolff. Brother of Elizabeth Wolff Cote . Don was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, received an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and became a Chartered Financial Analyst in 1976. He spent his career in the financial industry, beginning with Mellon Bank as an investment manager and eventually becoming a founding partner of Guyasuta Investment Advisors (formerly Sheetz, Smith & Co.) in 1983. Don was a member of the Board of the Women's Center and Shelter of Pittsburgh, a Trustee of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Chair of UPMC's Quality Patient Care Committee. In the course of his lifetime, Don also served in a leadership role in various Pittsburgh organizations including PRHI, Lead Pittsburgh, The Children's Home of Pittsburgh, Kingsley Association and the Ellis School. He was a member and past President of the Fox Chapel Golf Club, a member of Rolling Rock Club, Spring Island Club, and the Duquesne Club. Apart from his family and career, Don's other passion was golf. This passion was exhibited on many levels from player, to being a past President of the Pennsylvania Golf Association, a member of the U.S. Senior Golf Association and to serving as a Trustee of the Lesley Cup and as a member of the Seth Raynor Society. Friends will be received at JOHN A. FREYVOGEL SONS, INC. 4900 Centre Avenue at Devonshire Street Monday 4-7pm. A Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday in the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church at 10:00am. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Women's Center and Shelter of Pittsburgh P.O. Box 9024 PGH, PA 15224 or Dept. of Urology (Prostate Cancer Program) Dept. of Urology Medical & Health Sciences Forbes Tower Suite 8084 3600 Forbes Avenue PGH, PA 15213

[George Pazin]

Thank you for bringing this very sad news to our notice.

Don was kind enough, along with another FC member and poster on here, to host a small group of us on the Wednesday evening prior to the start of the 07 US Open for dinner and a small discussion. Buoyed by the passion the Fox Chapel members exuded for their course and the game, the night was wonderful, and I am greatly saddened to hear of his family's loss. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

[JohnV]

Don was a great friend of golf.  A longer obituary can be found here:

http://www.pagolf.org/charts.asp?sfile=static/archive/don_wolff_obit.html

[Jay Flemma]

Thank you for bringing this very sad news to our notice.

Don was kind enough, along with another FC member and poster on here, to host a small group of us on the Wednesday evening prior to the start of the 07 US Open for dinner and a small discussion. Buoyed by the passion the Fox Chapel members exuded for their course and the game, the night was wonderful, and I am greatly saddened to hear of his family's loss. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

I remember that wonderful night.  Forrest gave us all that great drawing of Oakmont and we had a great discussion of Lion's mouth greens.  That's terribly sad news.

Let's all say some extra prayers for Don and the family.

[TEPaul]

Don really was a remarkable guy and I felt his funeral was just so moving AND inspirational and basically so representative of the way he was and what he was. He loved golf and architecture, particularly Raynor. He was the president of Fox Chapel and the president of the Pennsyvlania Golf Association but it seems like what he did for UPMC particularly with quality patient care was his real high point career-wise. Don was probably the best and most effective listener I've known. We're surely going to miss him.

[David Lott]

Don used his "effective listener" quality on this site. He told me that he had no interest in posting because he did not feel that his opinions were anything special, but he enjoyed reading the posts and learning from (some of) them.

[gookin]

Thanks for the kind words about Donnie. When he became President of FCGC he talked me into being the Green Chairman. He quickly sent me to GCA as a valuable info source. In fact the site has become an important reference point and information source. He would closely follow posts to the site and then send me chasing down information that we could apply to the work we are doing on our course. We often send members who don't get it to this site hoping they might find a small amount of appreciation for classic design.

Donnie did the work to have restored our original architectural drawing that was found two years ago jammed in the bottom of a box that was about to be thrown away. Donnie led the charge to have the restored original donated to the USGA. A copy of the original will soon be hanging in our club house in memory of the work Donnie did to remind all of us how lucky we are to play a Seth Raynor course every day.

[TEPaul]

David:

Even though you and Don were the only ones I know particularly well from the Fox Chapel on-going restoration effort, I've got to say it sure looked to me like you guys (and maybe the whole committee) sure did reach out to ask various people and seek information and ideas wherever they could be found far more than any other club I'm aware of. To me that is very impressive and something I think any club who's into the history and restoration of their course should do a whole lot more of the way you guys have.

[David Lott]

Tom Paul:

I grew up playing Fox Chapel and while I have not lived in Pittsburgh as an adult, I've maintained friendships and business associations there. I've been fortunate to spend a good bit of time at Fox Chapel Golf Club over the past several decades, and knew a number of the club presidents.

For some reason, Fox Chapel has been blessed with excellent management by its members over the years--people with excellent business skills, integrity, dedication to the best traditions of the club and a willingness to serve rather than rule. It would be an interesting study to determine how the club has retained such excellent leadership over the years, given the problems that can easily arise in club governance. The answer is probably pretty simple--good people selecting more good people.

As you well know, Don Wolff was the kind of leader all organizations cherish--excellent judgment, business acumen, an interest in people, outstanding values and a desire to advance the interests of the organization, not his personal glory.

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