[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 101 (Thursday, July 1, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING OF ARTHUR WOLF FOR DECADES OF DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC AND 
                           COMMUNITY SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 1, 2010

  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Mr. Arthur Wolf, a great 
New Yorker and a great American who has devoted himself to serving 
others. Arthur provided top-notch public service to the citizens of the 
Empire State for decades as an official at the Social Security 
Administration and then at the New York City Department for the Aging. 
He has provided invaluable and expert advice to me on issues related to 
aging, and in particular, Social Security and Medicare, for the last 
seventeen years. Last month, he hosted a celebration of his upcoming 
80th birthday (he will actually turn 80 on September 25) at a gathering 
at Aleo restaurant in Manhattan.
  Here in Congress, we are elected by the people to make laws, but the 
job of implementing, applying and enforcing them falls to others. 
Throughout his professional life, Arthur Wolf has, in his own mild-
mannered way, helped citizens overcome the barriers that sometimes 
exist between often byzantine bureaucracies and the people whom 
government is supposed to serve.
  A proud son of the Bronx, Arthur Wolf has been a consummate New 
Yorker throughout his life. He did venture far from home to begin his 
undergraduate education at the University of Georgia, where he 
witnessed first-hand the mean-spirited racial segregation that then 
permeated the region, an experience that helped inspire him to try to 
make a difference for the better. After two years, Arthur returned to 
his hometown to finish his undergraduate education at New York 
University, an outstanding institution of which he is a proud, loyal, 
generous, and highly revered alumnus. After earning his bachelors 
degree, Arthur became a welfare investigator. In areas like the South 
Bronx, Arthur Wolf ensured that often underprivileged New Yorkers got a 
fair shake from the government when it came to accessing benefits to 
which they were legitimately entitled. He was also a diligent steward 
of taxpayer dollars who made certain that the public till was not 
bilked by those who fraudulently tried to qualify for welfare benefits.
  As a Social Security Administration official, Arthur helped countless 
senior citizens cut through red tape that stood between them and the 
benefits to which they were entitled. Many of these citizens would be 
penniless if it weren't for the dedicated work of this extraordinary 
man. In one memorable instance, Arthur helped an elderly widow tap into 
Social Security benefits to which she was unknowingly entitled, 
providing her with a sum in the six figures that constituted an 
enormous boost to her quality of life. He carries that same commitment 
to serving others everywhere he goes. A longtime resident of Peter 
Cooper Village, a bastion of middle class housing on Manhattan's East 
Side, Arthur often helps seniors in the neighborhood by offering 
uncompensated counsel on how to traverse the Social Security 
bureaucracy. His work ethic is only matched by his remarkable 
selflessness. A former Scout Master, he helped introduce inner-city 
kids to the great outdoors. For many years, he also volunteered his 
time hosting a radio show on Fordham University's radio station, WFUV, 
answering callers' Social Security inquiries.
  An active member of many community, civic and fraternal 
organizations, Arthur Wolf is a Full Mason and upstanding member of the 
Grand Lodge of Accepted Masons of the State of New York, which he has 
served as Secretary for many years. He remains a longtime member of the 
Executive Board of the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club.
  Madam Speaker, for his extraordinary contributions to others and to 
the civic life of our nation's greatest city, I ask that my 
distinguished colleagues rise and join me in honoring Mr. Arthur Wolf.

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