Lester L. Wolff

Lester Lionel Wolff (January 4, 1919 – May 11, 2021) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Long Island, New York. He also served as president of the International Trade and Development Agency.

In 2014, Wolff accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States, on behalf of World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol. Wolff was the chair of the Touro College Pacific Community Institute, the author of numerous books on foreign policy, and the host of the weekly PBS show Ask Congress.

Early life and education Lester Lionel Wolff was born in Manhattan on January 4, 1919, to Jewish parents Hannah (Bartman) and Samuel Wolff, a marketer who worked at Ruppert Breweries. Wolff graduated from George Washington High School in 1935 and New York University in 1939. and later became a department chair at the City College of New York. Wolff was part of the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. He was a squadron commander and The Bronx Home News. Wolff then founded his own firm, specializing in the food industry, and was executive director of the New York Conference of Retail Grocers.

U.S. House of Representatives In 1957, Wolff was selected by the U.S. House of Representatives as chairman of the Advisory Committee to the Subcommittee on Consumer Study. Early in his life, he was a liberal Republican, but switched parties, disillusioned with the increasingly conservative direction of the Republican Party under Barry Goldwater. He was an advocate of stricter gun laws.

Wolff was known as one of the most 'travel-happy' representatives of Congress while in office, frequently going abroad on congressional 'fact-finding' tours. He also played a role in the Camp David Accords. Wolff was defeated for reelection in an upset by 27-year-old Republican John LeBoutillier in 1980. In February 2019, Wolff donated his congressional papers to Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. In February 2020, the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge was renamed the Congressman Lester Wolff Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Personal life and death Wolff married Blanche Silvers in 1940; she died in 1997. An observant Jew, Wolff prayed daily.