Andrew Wolf, an extremely proud and devoted lifelong Bronxite, died on April 27, 2025. He was born on June 27, 1949 and grew up on Morris Avenue where he played stickball, was an avid comic book collector and diehard Yankee fan.
He attended the Bronx High School of Science and City College and later Baruch where he started a degree.
While in his senior year in high school he met Dita Mantegazza, who he courted throughout her remaining year of high school and college. They were married on March 22nd 1971.
While in his senior year in high school and in college Andy became extremely passionate in politics. He and Ms. Mantegazza campaigned together for Congressman Jonathan Bingham.
In the mid 70s Mr. Wolf founded the “Parkway News” his first community newspaper serving the Pelham Parkway community.
Following the election of Mayor Ed Koch he was appointed as member of the commission of Human Rights and later as the commissioner of Human Rights in the Koch administration. He was proud to serve under Koch, the second Jewish mayor the city of New York.
Andy was a lover of technology and computers and in the 80s started a newspaper venture called “Computer Living: New York”.
He did have a dream, a desire to own to the Bronx Press Review, the oldest and most respected newspaper in the county of the Bronx that was dream that was destined to become a reality in the late 1990s. In addition to inheriting ownership of this historic publication Andy was the founder of the Riverdale Review, a feisty weekly publication that covered the politics, education, development and community life of Riverdale, Kingsbridge and the northwest Bronx. At its height, the Riverdale Review had a circulation of 20,000 weekly copies.
Andy Wolf and his staff shaped the newspaper into one of the most influential in New York City. Mr. Wolf and the Review led the successful charge to bring high school grades to M.S. 141, a movement that created the Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy and M.S./H.S. 368-In Tech Academy in Marble Hill.
Other major stories that were a focus of the newspapers attention included the firebombing of the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale and subsequent trial in 2000, “fuzzy math” and the removal of high standards from public education curricula, the abuse of New York City’s landmarking process, and the Riverdale community’s ongoing efforts to bring its first Starbucks to the area, among others. Mr. Wolf was a voice for job growth across the Bronx and for improved retail options in Riverdale. He also was a staunch supporter of Israel and sought out the local angle on this international story when the opportunity arose.
Mr. Wolf was also a frequent commentator on education, politics and civic affairs. His work appeared in numerous publications including The New York Sun and the Huffington Post.
As a planning student in 1969, Mr. Wolf first proposed expanding commuter rail access along the New Haven railroad line in Parkchester and Co-op City. This plan, at the time known as “The New Hope Railroad for the Northeast Bronx,” eventually evolved into the Penn Station Access East Bronx plan, which is scheduled to bring Metro-North service to Co-op City, Morris Park/Van Nest, Parkchester and Hunts Point. The $1.6 billion plan saw final approval in 2019 after years of advocacy by numerous elected officials and civic leaders.
Aside from his devotion to the borough of the Bronx Andy loved traveling and he and his wife Dita traveled the globe - to Italy countless times, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, Egypt, Turkey, France, England, and Israel. Not only did they think the idea of world travel was important to them they made sure that they took both of their children as well as their children abroad to show them what the world outside of New York had to offer.
Andy was predeceased by his parents Norman and Natalie Wolf as well as his wife of 51 years, Dita. He is survived by his sons Erik and Daniel, his daughter-in-law, Sara and his grandchildren Isabel and Ari.
A graveside service will be held on Thursday, May 1st at Cedar Park Cemetery: 735 Forest Ave, Paramus, NJ at 10:30 AM.