Robert Kenneth Ken Wolfe, Sr.

Wolfe Robert Kenneth, Sr. “Ken” Dr. R. Kenneth Wolfe, Sr. age 85 passed away peacefully at Hospice of Northwest Ohio in Perrysburg on Friday July 24, 2015. Ken was born Sept. 5, 1929 in Chattanooga, TN and at the time of his birth, was the largest baby born in that city on record. He was a graduate of Baylor School in Chattanooga. As a dedicated engineer, he successfully took part in many professional roles and activities during his career. At the University of Toledo he retired in 1997 to Emeritus Professor Status. He received two awards; one in 1994 as an Outstanding University Teacher and one in 1995 as the Tau Beta Phi Outstanding Undergraduate Professor. During his tenure at the University of Toledo, he served in the Senate, was Chairman of the Systems Doctoral Program and served in many other governance and university roles. In governance matters, he could argue for his points of view, but always put professional behavior above personal concerns. He received his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952 and his Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Applied Mathematics in 1956. Graduate studies were supported by the Tennessee Eastman Research Fellowship. He then was engaged in project management and process engineering with the technologies ranging from nuclear fuel processing to pharmaceuticals with the Mallinckrodt Chemicals Works in St. Louis. While with Mallinckrodt , he met and married Mary Chacharonis which lasted 43 years until her passing in 2003. Their marriage was blessed with the birth of two children, Robert Kenneth Wolfe, Jr. and Ann Marie Wolfe. He served as a computer process control engineer with International Business Machines from 1960 to 1968. At IBM he successfully worked in recruitment for personnel, as an operations research engineer, and as a presenter of many seminars on technical and advanced computer applications to numerous corporate leaders, companies, research centers, technology organizations and societies. From 1968 to 1973, he served as Manager of Operations Research at Owens Illinois working in computer operations and corporate planning. He developed computer based models and forecasting methods for production scheduling, inventory control, multi-plant operations, decision analysis and many other applications areas. In 1973, he joined the College of Engineering at the University of Toledo and retired to Emeritus Professor Status in 1997. Among the student population, he was noted for his clarity of his teachings, for his spontaneous humor, for his caring and approachability and for his generosity, always with the highest professional standards. His broad experience was the source of many interesting stories for his lectures which made him popular with engineering students and contributed to his reputation as a story teller. His major teaching was in the areas of applied mathematics in engineering which he taught as a member of the graduate faculty to graduate engineers His teaching to freshman students in the areas of creative problem solving brought him the highest personal sense of achievement in that he felt this was a significant, if not the most significant contribution to the success of engineering students and future engineers. Among his many awards was one from the American Chemical Society for the largest and most difficult problem solved using the smallest computer, which was published as the first chapter in the 1977 publication by the American Chemical Society on Minicomputers and Large Scale Computations. His contributions to creating a department of Computer Science and Engineering in the Engineering College brought to the university additional educational alternatives in an ever expanding technological society. In retirement he maintained an active life style and continued to learn with an insatiable desire to know and understand many subjects. He was recognized for his many achievements in engineering, research and publications through listings in many different Who’s Who biographical compendiums. His research was in the areas of statistics, optimization theory, simulation and applied mathematics. He served on approximately one hundred master’s and doctoral committees as either the chair or committee member. He was the principal investigator, shared frequently with other professors, on many funded research projects for the Ohio Department of Transportation, for the Federal Highway Administration, for the Edison Research Center and for other local organizations. He was known for his dry sense of humor, which endeared him to many students with which he still corresponded. His sense of humor and irony came through even at his time at hospice where he commented to his priest, Father Larry Legakis, that it was taking too damn long to die and get this over with. He will be remembered for his true brilliance, inquisitiveness, curiosity about the world in which he lived and his open mindedness. He was a true southern gentleman, opening his home to many and judging none but by the content of their character. May his memory be eternal. He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert Earl Wolfe and Mae Belle (Hicks) and his wife, Mary Chacharonis Wolfe. He is survived by his son, Mr. Robert Kenneth Wolfe, Jr. and his wife and their three children; daughter Dr. Ann Marie Wolfe and her husband Todd Miller, and their children Tessa Despina Mae and Nicholas Earl Miller; sister-in-law, Irene Chacharonis Antonios; nieces, Anna Antonios Warren, Thekla Antonios Pappas and their families. Friends may visit the family at Walker Funeral Home 5155 Sylvania Ave. (west of Corey Rd.) on Monday from 4-8 PM with Trisagion Prayers at 7:00 PM. Services will be held on Tuesday at 10:00 AM at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral 802 N. Superior St. Toledo, OH 43604. Interment will follow at Toledo Memorial Park. Special thank you to the caring doctors and staff of Hospice in Perrysburg and Ms Kim Wodarski. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral or Hospice of Northwest Ohio 30000 River Rd. Perrysburg, OH 43551. Condolences may be shared with the family at walkerfuneralhomes.com.