Longtime criminal defense attorney, jazz subject matter expert and radio personality Don Wolff died Friday night after battling leukemia. He was 80 years old.
The son of a University City grocer, Wolff was the first in his family to attend college when he enrolled at the University of Missouri-Columbia during the Korean War.
An interest in student government and reading famed attorney Clarence Darrow drew him toward the legal profession, specifically criminal defense, which he described as “the only kind of law that I ever wanted to practice.”
His passion for jazz began as a youngster when he was introduced to the genre by way of the iconic Gaslight Square district.
Most local jazz lovers know him as the host of “Saturday Night Jazz” on KMOX 1120 AM. He hosted the Anita Berry Jazz Cruise for 12 years and has lectured and shown his jazz films all over the country. He showed jazz films as a public service at community centers, nursing homes, senior citizens facilities and children’s organizations. He also has used his radio show to promote many community jazz projects.
Wolff also served on the legal advisory committee of Harris-Stowe State University’s Board of Regents.
Just over a decade ago Wolff and his wife, Heide, donated their huge jazz archives to Harris-Stowe.
Dr. Henry Givens Jr., then president of Harris-Stowe State College, valued that gift at “over $1 million – the largest donation by an individual that the college has ever received” and said it was the first step in forming the Don and Heide Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe.
He delivered the University’s 2005 commencement address.
He is survived by his wife Heide, two sons, Nelson and Michael, and a daughter, Kristen.
Additional reporting provided by Roscoe Crenshaw.
