Member Spotlight: Bob Wolf

Bob was born and raised in New York City an only child, by way of Jewish immigrants parents. His father was from Germany and his mother was from Austria. Bob Wolf has his parents to thank for his fine education. From grades 5 through 9, he attended the United Nations International School. Partly as a result of that, he was exposed to 4 foreign languages by the age of 12. He received his bachelors of science from MIT and his Ph.D. from Stanford, both in math. He was a math professor at Cal Poly for 30 years. During that time, he wrote two books and also spent two years in Europe: a sabbatical in Holland where he worked on his book and studied mathematical linguistics, and a stint as Resident Director of the California State University International Program in France.

Bob has been an environmental and political activist for a long time. He was a board member of ECOSLO, the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo, for 10 years and served as interim director for 7 months. He was a founding member of the Abalone Alliance and the Concerned Cal Poly Faculty and Staff and was arrested twice at peaceful demonstrations at Diablo Canyon. Currently, he is active with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and is the chairman of the Social Action Committee of Congregation Beth David.

Bob has a large number of pursuits. He plays piano and hand drums; chess, backgammon, go, ping pong, tennis, pickleball, and disc golf. Bob is excited to continue these activities while living in Villaggio. He decided to join the membership of Villaggio because he likes the idea of living with a group of like-minded people who are, at the same time, quite diverse.

Bob has a son Aaron and grandchildren Ben, Ronan, and Rose, who live in San Jose. He lives with his girlfriend Ginny here in SLO.