Daughter honors her parents, a builder and a photographer’s model.
Morton Wolf (1907-1976)
Betty J. Williams Wolf (1912-1986)
Elizabeth J. Wolf, founder of the Morton S. and Betty Wolf Fund (1942-2022)
Elizabeth J. Wolf was a private person. It seems fitting that she lived on a road called Trails End in Westchester.
She was born January 22, 1943, to Rebecca “Betty” J. Williams and Morton Sharp Wolf. She majored in art at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. After graduation in 1963, Elizabeth went to a speed-writing school.
Then, she joined Expositions françaises aux États-Unis (French Expositions in the U.S.), a trade show company that set up exhibitions for the French government. Among her duties, she coordinated a 1984 Miami International Boat Show featuring catamarans, sailboats, and marine clothing, footwear, and accessories made by three French companies. Elizabeth was promoted to director of French Expositions before she retired after 40 years with the company.
During frequents visits to New York City, Elizabeth enjoyed music, theater, and the arts, and was a patron of theater groups and the New York Philharmonic. She died January 24, 2022, at her home in Rye, New York. The fund she established in The New York Community Trust memorializes her parents.
Her mother, Rebecca “Betty,” was born in October 1912 in Houma, Louisiana, to Laura and Frederick Williams. Her father, Morton, was born January 5, 1907, in Yonkers to Dr. Morris Wolf, a physician who immigrated from Miskolc, Hungary, in 1877 and his wife, Bertha, a native New Yorker. Morton was one of three siblings, and his father died when he was just seven years old.
Betty and Morton were married on June 1, 1941, in Manhattan and took up residence on Park Avenue. Their marriage license describes Betty’s occupation as “photographic model” and Morton as “real estate.” After Elizabeth was born, they had a son, Morton Frederick “Buddy” Wolf.
Morton S. Wolf was president of Spencer-Taylor Corp., a real estate and hotel management company with headquarters at 100 East 42nd Street in Manhattan. Morton’s brother, Charles S. Wolf, was his partner.
Over the years, Spencer-Taylor operated the Ritz Towers, Delmonico, the Mayflower, Surrey, One Fifth Avenue, Beaux-Arts, and Peter Cooper hotels. The company also developed a number of real estate projects, including Washington Square Village in Manhattan and Chatham Center in Pittsburgh.
Morton is credited with the idea of placing a hotel atop office and retail space, a concept used in downtown Pittsburgh’s Chatham Center.
In 1950, Morton traveled abroad as a real estate consultant for the State Department under President Harry S Truman. He also was a real estate consultant for the Archdiocese of New York and served on the board of St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Morton and Betty lived in Larchmont. He died June 6, 1976, at age 69. Betty died in 1986. She was 74.
The fund Elizabeth established at The Trust in her parents’ memory supports New York City public schools’ programs in visual arts and music, and post-secondary scholarships for students who excel in those disciplines.