IN MEMORIAM
HAROLD A. WOLF
On October 19, 2004, the toll from a particularly grievous illness
was finally paid through the passing of our long-time colleague,
Dr. Harold A. Wolf. Hal, the name by which he was universally
known, had retired from The University of Texas finance department
ten years earlier and had enjoyed his emeritus status throughout
that decade. Prior to that retirement, he had served as a tenured
colleague for twenty-seven years.
Hal was born on February 10, 1923, in Lind, Washington. He was
educated in the secondary schools of Puyallup, Washington, graduating
from high school in 1941. From 1941-47, he wore the uniform of
the U.S. Navy, but he was usually reticent to discuss his experiences
during that period. Returning to higher education, he earned
a B.A. degree from the University of Oregon in 1951. His main
academic interests were economics and history. He enrolled in
the economics department of the University of Michigan where
he earned his M.A. degree in 1952 followed by his Ph.D. in 1958.
His academic aptitudes were recognized, among other ways, by
his election to Beta Gamma Sigma and Pi Gamma Mu honoraries.
His doctoral dissertation in this pre-Fidel Castro time was “A
Reappraisal of the U.S. Sugar Policy and its Impact upon Cuba.” While
completing that work, he secured his first academic appointment
as an instructor in economics at Lehigh University. His teaching
duties were briefly interrupted by a short assignment in 1957-58
as an assistant economist with the Prudential Insurance Company.
This was immediately followed by his initial major teaching position
at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He served there as
an assistant professor from 1958-60, as an associate professor
from 1960-64, and was granted full professorial status in 1965.
Among the lasting dividends from his Colorado days was his March
1961 marriage to Jeanette Dunn, his life-long partner and mother
of their two children, Mark and Suellen. Hal and Jeanette were
later to welcome to their family Mark’s wife, Laurie, and
Suellen’s husband, Allen Crowley. The Wolfs’ lives
were further blessed by two grandchildren, Natalya and Aidan.
Outside both the home and the classroom, Hal began to develop
numerous consultancy connections with financial institutions,
a practice that grew even more following his move to Austin in
1967. With the special encouragement of his former student at
Colorado, UT’s Dr. Conrad Doenges, Hal was persuaded to
sample the Texas waters with a visiting appointment. Both parties
soon agreed to make the relationship permanent.
Hal confirmed that selection with his record in teaching, writing,
and service to the economic and financial community. His articles
appeared in such journals as Business Horizons, Business
Topics, the Southern Economic Journal, the Houston
Business Review, and the Austin Business Journal,
and the pages of both the World Book Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia
Americana contained his submissions. His main publishing
efforts, however, were in the field of textbooks. His Personal
Finance, first published by Allyn & Bacon in 1964, subsequently
went through ten revised editions, a fitting testimony to his
ability to communicate complex financial matters in an ever-changing
world to readers at all levels of sophistication.
In addition to assisting more than forty commercial banks and
thrift institutions with such strategic questions as analyzing
the impacts and implications of new charters and branch office
locations, he also consulted with such organizations as the U.S.
Post Office, Southern Union Gas Company, and Lone Star Gas Company.
Much of his work found its impression inside the judicial system
where his expertise in the issues surrounding interest payments
on mortgage escrow accounts was much in demand by the numerous
litigants in this controversial area in the 1980s and 1990s.
Hal has taught several thousand students. The chairman of the
faculty committee accepting the honor of preparing this memorial
resolution had been called upon in 1990 to observe Hal’s
teaching performance as a part of the University’s post-tenure
review process. In a follow-up letter, he wrote to Hal that:
… you were articulate and extremely patient with the
students. Your style of laying out the agenda for the day,
reviewing the previous lecture to provide continuity and perspective
and your frequent pauses for student questions were entirely
appropriate and desirable. I also noted that you were very
aware of the problems students face in large classes. For example,
your practice of repeating a student question over the microphone
so that all students actually heard the question and benefited
from your answer was particularly noteworthy. It is my opinion
that your style is ideal for the large classes that you teach.
Hal did, indeed, have more than the normal share of classes
with large enrollments. He was up to those assignments. And,
he did not reject the more minor supplementary duties that are
a part of the dedicated professor’s lot. For many years,
he was the faculty advisor to Kappa Sigma fraternity, and, over
that same period, when it was time for Commencement, you could
count on finding Hal in his blue Michigan regalia serving as
a Marshal at these important ceremonies.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
Sue Alexander Greninger, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared by a special committee consisting
of Professors Ramesh K. S. Rao (chair), Stephen P. Magee and Robert D.
Mettlen.
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