The man who brought The Boom

Wednesday, 11 October 2006

Jack Wolff, who died Sept. 30, is credited with starting the Sandusky area's tourist building boom.

By TOM JACKSON

tomjackson@sanduskyregister.com

SANDUSKY - Jackson B. "Jack" Wolff is being remembered by his friends as a pioneer who helped launch a tourism building boom in Sandusky.

"What became of his vision was Great Wolf, the Kalahari," said Tom Griffing, owner and operator of Griffing Flying Service and Sandusky Griffing Airport.

"He was a charismatic person. He had a lot of drive in business. He thought big," said businessman and pilot Ron Zoellner.

Wolff's family has kept details of his death private.

Wolff's friends, who say they want the businessman to be remembered for his contributions to the community, say he died Sept. 30 in Chicago. He was remembered Sunday in a private memorial service in Sandusky. Wolff, who had battled cancer for many years, was 72, said Sandusky philanthropist George Mylander. Wolff is survived by his wife, Emmy; his son, Cleveland businessman Jeffrey Wolff, and his daughter, Chicago attorney C. Elizabeth Darke, Mylander said.

Much of the development of the area began when Wolff built the Holiday Inn on U.S. 250 near Ohio 2 around 1963, Griffing said.

Before the Holiday Inn was built, tourist accommodations in the area were limited to "a few mom and pop motels," Griffing said.

"Between Strub Road and down 250 toward Route 2, there were no businesses. There was just farmland," Griffing said.

"The Ramada popped up across the street within the next few years," Griffing said. "It started with the Holiday Inn, and just from there."

Sanduskians also may recall Wolff's Fanny Baer's restaurant, at the site of the current Applebees.

"It was absolutely a fabulous design of a restaurant, fabulous food," Griffing said.

Wolff's projects also included the big Radisson hotel on Cleveland Road, which later became Cedar Point's Castaway Bay waterpark, and the Baywinds Athletic Club.

More recently, Wolff launched the ill-fated Air Inn project near Griffing Airport, which failed and was never completed. Contractors battled in court for years to be paid as Wolff sought to revive the project. The land finally was sold at sheriff's auction and then resold to local businessman Duke Thorson.

Wolff, who in recent years spent much of his time in Boca Raton, Fla., also was remembered as an avid pilot who loved to fly and owned interesting airplanes.

"He had the only jet that was ever hangared in Sandusky," said Zoellner, referring to Wolfe's Cessna Citation business jet.

"And then he had one of the fanciest airplanes ever built by Beechcraft, a Beech Starship," Zoellner said. The unusual aircraft lacked a conventional tail.

Wolff also was a fun person to be around, Griffing said.

"He had more laughs in a minute than most people had in their entire life," Griffing said.

FunCoast.com is your online guide to summer fun for Cedar Point, the LakeErie Islands and Sandusky area. Our site offers up-to-date information on area attractions, restaurants, hotels, gasoline prices, ferry schedules, swimming, birding and fishing, along with a complete listing of events happening in the Sandusky/Cedar Point area. To use our Webcam and zoom in on Cedar Point's rollercoasters, go to http://funcam.funcoast.com

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