Computer retailing pioneer Don Wolf died May 30 at the age of 92, after recovering from a bout of Covid-19 earlier in the month, family members announced.
Wolf opened Idea Computer on N. Santa Cruz Ave. in downtown Los Gatos in 1982. It shortly thereafter became Wolf Computer, one of Silicon Valley’s leading computer retailers.
Wolf Computer sold Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett Packard and Apple Computer equipment. It closed in 1998 as big box stores embraced the increasingly commoditized home computer revolution.
Prior to entering the retail business, Wolf worked in technical capacities with Bell Labs and AT&T, as a manager of Space Radar Engineering at General Electric in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and as a designer of radar systems in Utica, New York.
He served in the US military and studied Physics Engineering and Military Science at the University of North Dakota.
His hometown was Hazen, North Dakota. Wolf married his wife Anita on July 10, 1954. He moved to Monte Sereno in 2005 and described himself as a political conservative.
In addition to his wife Anita, Wolf is survived by four daughters, Sandy Alzaidi, Jo Anne Schreiber, Jennifer Stuhlmiller and Julia Wood, son Tom and a good number of grandchildren, who include Charlys Yezo Silva, Samuel David Wood, Haydon Wolf, Adam Alzaidi, Joey Alzaidi, Peter James Stuhlmiller, Albert Scheiber III, Christopher Wood, Georgia Sue Schreiber, Zena Al, Ashley Scheiber, Sophia Alzaidi, Jordan Wolf, Christina Marie Urbano, Katie Wood Silva and Grace Wood.
