ForeverMissed
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For many years our father has suffered from a mixed dementia, which finally took his life on September 5th, 2013.

We don't know how long the dementia had been affecting him, as the early symptoms were both hard to appreciate or accept -- perhaps ten years, perhaps more.

It has been an isolating illness, naturally and progressively seperating him from his friends, and from his connections to the world. It has also made it hard for us to remember how he was before.

As a result, we would like to remember our father with the help of this memorial web site. We welcome any and all contributions (stories, photos, whatever you have). We have become quite aware of all the things we don't know about our father, and would love to learn more from you.

Here is the link to his obituary in the MIT newsletter:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/peter-wolff-obituary.html

We suggest that donations in his memory to be directed to 

http://giving.mit.edu/

Giving to the Arts at MIT (2016400)


-- Mia and Whitney Wolff

December 19, 2013
December 19, 2013
Vikas Sukhatme and I were Peter's first two Ph.D. students. He was always there for us and watched out for our welfare. He provided excellent guidance, advice and was always supportive. He was the thesis adviser that everybody wanted.  I will miss him.
October 2, 2013
October 2, 2013
Dear Mia and Whitney,
    Your Dad was already Director of the Magnet lab when I became Vice President for Research.  As a result, we had many interesting discussions about the problems and opportunities of the lab, but I best remember his remarkable combination of high standards tempered by an unusual generosity. We will all miss him.
September 19, 2013
September 19, 2013
As a kid, I didn't know much about science, but I knew that it was really cool, that MIT was the place to do it, and that Mr. Wolff worked there in offices with mysterious machines and Hubble photographs on the walls. I'll always remember him most for how supportive he was, for taking enough interest in my childhood ambitions to show me around his lab. It was just so caring and kind.
September 13, 2013
September 13, 2013
Peter hired me at MIT and oversaw the early days of my career. He was a great mentor as well as a role model when I began to take on administrative responsibilities. He was a great scientist, research manager and a kind and generous mentor for students as well as faculty and staff. His life was a gift to all who worked with him.
September 13, 2013
September 13, 2013
I'll always remember Mr. Wolff at family Christmases, gamely joining a white elephant Yankee Swap or making lovely and complex paper ornaments for us kids. He was always so thoughtful and generous, willing to take an afternoon to show my brother around MIT or celebrate my graduation and everything in between. He was a kind man and I'm grateful to have known him.
September 12, 2013
September 12, 2013
I haven't seen your dad for a number of years, and I am sorry to hear of his passing. My clearest memories of both your dad and mom were from when Deb and Whitney were living in Newton. I believe Peter designed the garden for your home. It was a lovely spot and I had the impression the garden was a shared source of pleasure for all of you.
September 10, 2013
September 10, 2013
Peter was one of my favorite people. He was my first boss at Bell Labs and ultimately convinced me to come to MIT. He was a kind, thoughtful, inspiring mentor – and, in addition to be being very smart, was an excellent tennis player. He was a good man. I miss him.
September 10, 2013
September 10, 2013
We regularly had lunch together, and he and Cathy took me out for a special lunch when I got tenure in 1999. Peter was very interested in what I was doing in my lab and in my life, and he often helped me look on the bright side of things when experiments weren't working. He was a consistently cheerful guy with amazing scope and just very fun to be around. He is sorely missed here.
September 9, 2013
September 9, 2013
Mia and Whitney:
Peter was a great colleague to have. I am in experimental nuclear and particle physics and because of the disparat fields we did not intersect often. However, when we did interact he was always a class act: friendly, open, intelligent, informative and a good listener. He was an excellent physicist, a gentleman, and fine human being.

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Recent Tributes
December 19, 2013
December 19, 2013
Vikas Sukhatme and I were Peter's first two Ph.D. students. He was always there for us and watched out for our welfare. He provided excellent guidance, advice and was always supportive. He was the thesis adviser that everybody wanted.  I will miss him.
October 2, 2013
October 2, 2013
Dear Mia and Whitney,
    Your Dad was already Director of the Magnet lab when I became Vice President for Research.  As a result, we had many interesting discussions about the problems and opportunities of the lab, but I best remember his remarkable combination of high standards tempered by an unusual generosity. We will all miss him.
September 19, 2013
September 19, 2013
As a kid, I didn't know much about science, but I knew that it was really cool, that MIT was the place to do it, and that Mr. Wolff worked there in offices with mysterious machines and Hubble photographs on the walls. I'll always remember him most for how supportive he was, for taking enough interest in my childhood ambitions to show me around his lab. It was just so caring and kind.
Recent stories

from a letter from Joe Giordmaine

October 5, 2013

Peter was one of my first department heads at Bell Labs in the 1960's. His deep understanding of physics, his illuminating insights into the meaning of new results, his encouragement and his friendship wwere instrumental for many of us in launching phsyics careers. During this period he published many highly influential papers in his field.

It is remarkable that thirty five years later he contributed equally incisive interpretation as coauthor in "Nature" that has opened up a whole new class of photonic devices and that has been cited over 4000 times in physics journals. 

His ability to inspire so many others led to senior leadership positions in science research at Bell Labs, MIT and the NEC Research Institute in Princeton.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and the family at this difficult moment. We trust that with time sorrow will be tempered by warm and enduring memories. 

from Margaret O'Meara

September 15, 2013

Dear Mia and Whitney,

As a former employee of the Francis Bitter National Magnet Lab, I am writing to express my sincere condolences on the passing of your father.  Peter was the warmest, kindest, most giving person I can remember.  The relocation of the Magnet Lab to Florida impacted me personally at the time when I had just lost my parents, and it was Peter who put me in touch with Physics faculty who had an opening for an assistant in their group.  I am forever grateful to Peter for his interest and concern on my behalf.

It seems most cruel that such a warm, outgoing and engaged person as Peter would have to bear the limiting, isolating effects that he (and you) experienced.  I will always remember him most fondly.

Sincerely,
Margaret O'Meara

Coin-flipping: Virgil remembers

September 14, 2013

As Peter Wolff’s grandson my encounters with his professional and intellectual side were infrequent. I mostly remember him taking me out into the garden, discussing basketball strategies, and other odds and ends of that sort. However, I do remember one specific instance, while probably long forgotten by all involved (I was merely an observer), which for some reason I recall with distinct clarity, and I believe it may have influenced me in a semi-subconscious way. It was at a party in his old apartment in Boston, which was to celebrate the artistic accomplishments of my grandmother, Catherine Wolff. As I was either the only, or one of the only children in attendance, I remember wandering through the party aimlessly for sometime. But then, a rather intense discussion began to emerge in the kitchen which my grandfather found himself embroiled in somehow. The discussion concerned the probabilities involved in a series of coin flips. While most of people involved in the discussion were civilian coin flippers, my grandfather was definitely not, and he interceded to provide a reasoned explanation of the difference between the probability of flipping five heads in a row, and the probability of flipping a fifth heads once four have already been flipped. To a ten year old child, who was not especially talented at math or related subjects, his explanation was crystal clear, and I think that it has probably informed the ways in which I approach logical problems to this day. Perhaps this seems small in comparison to Peter’s scientific achievements, but I hope that this anecdote may remind people of his everyday contributions to intellectual conversations which took place outside of MIT or Bell Labs, and in most cases went undocumented.

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