Alright, I’m just gonna come right out and say it: It’s always a little spooky to see your own name in the obituaries. But then when you start delving into it and find all the parallels? Well, let’s just call it more than a little spooky. Turns out, Daniel Wolf died recently of a heart attack at age 65 at his home on the western slope of the Rockies.
He was born poor in Cheyenne Wyoming but grew up rich in Denver thanks to the fact that his father bought and sold lucrative oil and gas leases. He went to Bennington College, majored in art, and ended up with his own gallery in New York City. But he became famous for his role in accumulating a trove of rare photographs for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Oh, and along the way he married Maya Lin who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC.
Though he made his name as an art dealer, Mr. Wolf was at his core a collector, not just of photographs but of whatever caught his eye. He built significant collections of pre-Columbian American art, Chinese ceramics and Frank Lloyd Wright furniture. His home in Colorado was filled with gems and minerals, some of which he found himself in the surrounding mountains.
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If interested, you can read the full story here. Or, you can just wait until your own name shows up in the obituaries. Like I said, either way, it’s more than a little spooky.