In his final moments, bond salesman Jack Wolff was on top of the world, or at least the country, cycling along a serpentine Colorado road at close to 14,000 feet.

Mr. Wolff, who recently turned 70, had made the tough climb on the Mount Evans Highway west of Denver several times this summer, gearing up for an even greater challenge.

The fit, former defensive back for the Denver Broncos had planned to hit the Peruvian mountains in two weeks as part of a tour to raise money to build classrooms for needy children in the South American nation.
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Jack Wolff was preparing for trip to Peru.

Mr. Wolff lived for the ride. On Friday, he died in an accident doing what made him happy.

The longtime resident of Denver was pedaling along the highway, the country's highest paved road, when he lost control of his bike, friends and family said Monday.

"The last thing Jack saw was this vista of magnificent mountains, a bright blue sky and a beautiful day," said his wife, Mary Nell Wolff, 50, who met her husband on a blind date more than two decades ago.

As Mr. Wolff guided his purple and red bike up the 28-mile route, which stretches from Idaho Springs to the Mount Evans summit, he likely reflected on his career. Friday marked his 35-year anniversary in the brokerage business.

Mr. Wolff, whose name was John but who was better known as Jack, worked as a partner at Boettcher & Co. before joining Piper Jaffray, where he was a senior vice president.

The ex-Marine approached work with the same tenacity he displayed on the road, becoming Piper Jaffray's No. 1 bond salesman in Colorado, said Charles Biederman, a local businessman and old friend.

Mr. Wolff joined the Broncos in 1960, the team's first year, but an injury cut short his career before it really could get started, his wife said. After playing in the preseason, Mr. Wolff was sidelined permanently, she said.

The lanky Greeley native was athletic, straight-shooting, serious and disciplined, the kind of man who never left the house without his shoes shined and pants pressed.

"He was pretty conservative, not a party guy," Biederman said. "But he tempered that with a charming personality."

There was nothing flashy or pretentious about Mr. Wolff, friends and family said, just a quiet confidence and down-to-earth nature that inspired those who surrounded him.

After dating for nine months, Mr. Wolff proposed to Mary Nell in room 442 of a Ramada Inn in Hays, Kan.

After agreeing to marry, the two celebrated by going to a steakhouse and then to a college football game between Oklahoma Panhandle State and Fort Hays State.

"There was a connection between us from the beginning," she said. "So I said to myself, 'This is OK.' "

Those who forged ties with Mr. Wolff will remember him at a service Friday at 10 a.m. at the Phipps Tennis Pavilion.

Mr. Wolff had looked forward to Peru, where he would have traveled the world's highest paved road.

The avid cyclist, who had made the 3,000-mile trip across the country on his bike not once, but seven times, trusted that it would turn out to be an invigorating ride, both physically and spiritually, his wife said.

"It was the climbing that made him so happy," she said. "You know, he was much happier on the way up than he was on the way down."

patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2544
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