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Dr. Julius F. Wolff, widely viewed as the top expert on Lake Superior shipwrecks, died Friday, July 13, 2007, in Duluth.

“Julius Wolff was the dean of Lake Superior shipwreck historians,” says Frederick Stonehouse, a fellow maritime historian and author who lives in Marquette.

Julius F. Wolff Jr. at the publication of his book Lake Superior Shipwrecks in 1989.

“For many years he led a lone charge chronicling the lake’s many maritime disasters. Perhaps more important, he made the shipwrecks come alive so they weren’t just dry accounts but instead stories of men and women and the eternal battle against the lake.”

Dr. Wolff died of natural causes at St. Franciscan Health Center in Duluth. He was 89.

He was the author of Lake Superior Shipwrecks, published by Lake Superior Port Cities in 1990 as a second expanded edition. The book was first published in 1979 as The Shipwrecks of Lake Superior, by Lake Superior Marine Museum Association.

Proceeds from the book benefitted the Lake Superior Marine Museum.

Thom Holden, director of the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center in Duluth, was contributing editor on Lake Superior Shipwrecks.

“My fondest memory of Dr. Wolff was when I first met him nearly 40 years ago. I was looking up some shipwreck information on microfilm in the UMD library,” Holden remembers.

“While I was setting up the machine, I notice a man sitting at the next machine doing the same thing. It was Dr. Wolff. I had corresponded with him for several years and read his articles in the Great Lakes Historical Society’s journal, Inland Seas. It was quite a treat. About 25 years later, I had the pleasure of working with him to update his book on Lake Superior shipwrecks published by Lake Superior Magazine. Again, an honor and privilege. He was the No. 1 source on Lake Superior shipwrecks for a half-century or more.

“He will be missed by all who knew him – students, scouts, scholars, hunters, divers, fishermen, canoeists – and he will be missed by those who never had a chance to talk with a real gentleman of the old school,” Holden says.

Paul Hayden, editor of Lake Superior Shipwrecks and co-publisher of Lake Superior Magazine, offered these memories:

“Dr. Wolff was a joy to be around. He had an incredible knowledge of so many topics, from shipwrecks to geology to the history of the BWCA. I used to tell people not to ask a question or they’d spend the rest of the day listening to his stories.

“He had an instant recollection of any fact associated with the history of the region,” Hayden says. “He was also a bit of a pixie. I remember that whenever we’d drive somewhere to attend a book signing, I could hear him humming a little song under his breath. We all have songs in our head. He hummed his. He was fascinating and will be missed. I’m so proud that we were able to publish his book on shipwrecks.”

Minnesota Public Radio reporter Stephanie Hemphill recalls making tapes of shipwreck stories with Dr. Wolff in the early 1990s. Stephanie, who at the time was news director at KUMD radio, was struck by the fact that all he brought with him to the recording sessions was a single sheet of paper containing only the “bare bones” information – dates and names of the 20 shipwrecks.

She was amazed that from that sheet of paper, he was able to tell a detailed story about each of the different shipwrecks.

The cassette tapes were sold in gift shops and bookstores, with the proceeds going to the Julius F. Wolff scholarship fund at University of Minnesota Duluth. They are still available at Northern Lights Books & Gifts in Canal Park and are called “Stories of Lake Superior Shipwrecks as told by Dr. Fred Wolff, Volume 1 & 2.”

Julius Fredrick “Fred” Wolff Jr. was born March 1, 1918, in Duluth, to Julius and Margaret (Maney) Wolff. He graduated from Duluth Cathedral in 1935 and attended Duluth Junior College from 1936 to 1937. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1940.

He enlisted in the Army in March 1942 as a private and remained on active duty until 1946. He attended Officers’ Candidate School and was assigned to quartermaster duties on Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska during World War II, serving there for three years. He left the Army as a captain and remained in the Reserves until 1975, retiring as a full colonel.

At the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he earned his Master’s Degree in 1947 and his Doctorate in Public Administration in 1949. He returned to Duluth as a political science professor and taught at UMD for 37 years until retiring in 1986.

In his spare time, he was a Scoutmaster in Duluth for more than 20 years. When he wasn’t researching shipwrecks, teaching or traveling around the lake to give lectures on his findings, Dr. Wolff would be outdoors fishing and hunting. And he enjoyed taking kids canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He loved to teach kids how to fish and hunt.

One of those was Katie Beeman, who met him when she was 12 years old. She spent a lot of time with him during the next 14 years, and may have been the only girl to be mentored by Dr. Wolff.

“It was so interesting. He could talk about anything. He could talk about political science, politics, shipwrecks,” she says.

Katie, who is now married and working at the News Tribune, says that Dr. Wolff taught her how to hunt, took her on long trips driving along the north shore and to the Boundary Waters. And he told her many stories about Lake Superior shipwrecks.

She describes him as “kind of rough and gruff and militarylike,” someone who spoke his mind and wasn’t afraid to give advice on where to attend college. But noting his generosity, she says he paid for a lot of kids to attend Marshall School.

A memorial Mass is scheduled for August 8 at 10 a.m. at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 2801 E. 4th St., with Msgr. Lawrence O’Shea officiating. Military honors accorded by the Duluth Combined Honors Guard will follow the service. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials should be directed to the Julius F. Wolff Scholarship at the University of Minnesota Duluth, 1123 University Dr., Room 304 Cina Hall, Duluth, MN 55812.

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