Background on Richard D. Wolff
Richard D. Wolff was born on April 1, 1942 to Max and Lieselotte Wolff. His parents emigrated to the United States during World War II and made their new home in Youngstown, Ohio, later moving near New York City. Max Wolff had been a lawyer in Germany and France. In the United States, Max would become a Professor of Modern History and International Affairs at Youngstown College, and later held a similar position at the University of Missouri; he would also work as a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Max held a position as the Director of Research for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Research Resident of the Center for Urban Education in 1965, a senior researcher in the Center for Urban Education in New York, and in 1966 he conducted an influential study on the Head Start program. Lieselotte Wolff would go on to write a manuscript about her experience fleeing from Germany entitled "How I Escaped the Holocaust." Later in life, Richard Wolff, through inquiries with the Red Cross, would attempt to help his mother reconnect with family and friends from whom she was separated during World War II. Wolff would also go through the process of applying for German citizenship in 2007.
Growing up in this environment would influence Richard in his education and career. He graduated from Harvard in 1963 with a B.A., magna cum laude, in history, and would go on to earn three Masters degrees: one in Economics from Stanford in 1964, one in Economics from Yale in 1966, and one in History from Yale in 1967. Wolff would also attend Yale to earn his Ph.D. in Economics in 1969 and his dissertation, “Economic Aspects of British Colonialism in Kenya, 1895-1930” would be published a few years later in 1974. Wolff taught at Yale while he was a graduate student, and he would go on to teach at the City College of New York until 1973.
In 1972, Wolff was courted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, invited by Dean Alfange, Jr., who was Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences and acting chairman of the Economics Department at the time. Wolff was hired to UMass Amherst as an associate professor in 1973 as part of the "radical package" of professors coming to the Economics Department, which included Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Richard Edwards, and Stephen A. Resnick. During this time, Wolff and Resnick, who also worked at the City College and then UMass Amherst, enjoyed a long-term collaborative relationship which lasted until Resnick’s death in 2013; they wrote and published numerous books and articles together and taught classes together. Wolff’s courses were most often related to Marxian theory and Marxian economics, but he also taught on the history of economic thought and the United States economy. During his 1979-80 sabbatical leave, with the help of a grant from The American Council of Learned Societies, Wolff went to Paris for several months where he studied with noted Marxist philosopher, Louis Althusser. Wolff taught at UMass Amherst until 2008, and during that time he would see a shift in the politics and focus of the department. As correspondence, positive results from course questionnaires, and Wolff being a recipient of the UMass Distinguished Teaching Award in 1981 indicate, his classes were enjoyed by students. He was named Professor Emeritus in Economics at UMass Amherst in 2008, and he is currently a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School.
While working at UMass, Wolff was a founding member of the Association for Economic and Social Analysis (AESA), established in 1988, and the association’s journal, Rethinking Marxism, which explores economics, culture and society; Wolff served as a member of the editorial board for Rethinking Marxism. Wolff also co-founded Democracy at Work, a non-profit creating shows such as Economic Update, a weekly program in which Wolff analyzes economic issues. Throughout the years, Wolff has given numerous lectures, interviews, and contributed pieces to various publications, including Monthly Review.
For years, Wolff lived in New Haven, Connecticut with his wife, Dr. Harriet Fraad, a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, and his two children, Max and Theresa. He was a founding member of the New Haven Green Party and ran as its mayoral candidate in 1985, although he did not win the election. While living in New Haven, Wolff served as a member of the New Haven Revenue Commission and the Overall Economic Plan Committee. Today, Wolff lives with his wife Harriet in Manhattan.
