Nelson William Wolff (born October 27, 1940) is a retired American judge and Democratic politician from

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, Texas. He represented

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Brau ...

in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

from 1971 to 1973 and the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...

from 1973 to 1975. He served on the San Antonio City Council from 1987 to 1991 and then as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

from 1991 to 1995. He served as Bexar

county judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

from 2001 until December 31, 2022.

Early life and education

Wolff was born and raised in

. He earned a Bachelor of Business administration from St. Mary's University and a Juris Doctor from the

St. Mary's University School of Law St. Mary's University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of St. Mary's University, a private Catholic university located in San Antonio, Texas. Academics The School of Law has an enrollment of about 770 students, pursu ...

Career

Wolff is only the second person to serve as both San Antonio mayor and county judge of Bexar County. (The first was Bryan Callaghan, Jr., who became mayor in 1885 and county judge in 1892.) With his late father and two brothers, he owned several businesses, most notably Sun Harvest Farms grocery stores and Green Fields Market, a health foods and organic grocery store in San Antonio, which Wolff sold in 2011. Wolff has penned four books. In ''Challenge of Change,'' he describes his experience in the Texas legislature and his participation in the 1974 Constitutional Convention, of which he was instrumental in bringing about. In ''Baseball for Real Men'', Wolff reflects on life and his love of the game. ''Mayor'' is a memoir of San Antonio politics focusing on his time in City Hall. In ''Transforming San Antonio'' ( Trinity University Press) Wolff gives an insider's view on signature economic-development projects with which he was involved: the

AT&T Center AT&T Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena on the east side of San Antonio, Texas, United States. It is the home of the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. The arena seats 18,418 for basketball, and 19,000 for concerts or ...

, a

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

factory, the PGA Village, and the extension of the

San Antonio River Walk The San Antonio River Walk is a city park and special-case pedestrian street in San Antonio, Texas, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shop ...

. Wolff was initially appointed to this current position in 2001 to succeed Cyndi Taylor Krier, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, who resigned to accept an appointment from then Governor Rick Perry as a regent of the

University of Texas System The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT& ...

. Wolff has since been elected to this position three times. In January 2012, he announced that he would seek a fourth full term in 2014. He defeated in the general election the Republican candidate, Carlton L. Soules, a former member of the San Antonio City Council from the North Side. Known as a "budget hawk" while on the council, Soules since entered into an alliance with the unsuccessful 2017 San Antonio mayoral candidate Manuel Medina, the chairman of the Bexar County Democratic Party organization. The two had opposed a defunct a downtown street car project, which they considered a "boondoggle." Wolff won re-election as county judge in the general election held on November 6, 2018. He defeated the

nominee, Probate Judge Tom Rickhoff.

Personal life

Since 1989, Wolff has been married to his second spouse, the former Tracy Hoag. He has four children from the first marriage to Melinda Wolff: Kevin Alan, Lyn Marie, Scott, and Matthew. He has two stepchildren through the second marriage. His oldest son from his first marriage, Kevin Wolff (born c. 1965), a Republican, served with his father on the Bexar County Commissioners' Court as the Precinct three commissioner until 2021. The two disagreed over a downtown streetcar plan favored by the father and adamantly opposed by the son. They agreed on a proposal to build a rail system with the use of eighteen miles of existing

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

track from downtown San Antonio to Leon Springs.Gilbert Garcia, "Two Wolffs agree on new/old UP rail plan," '' San Antonio Express-News'', January 8, 2016, p. A2 The

Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium (informally Wolff Stadium) is a stadium in San Antonio, Texas, United States. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the home field of the San Antonio Missions Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League ...

, home field of the San Antonio Missions located off U.S. Highway 90 near the intersection with State Highway 151, is named in his honor.

References

External links

Judge Nelson Wolff's Campaign WebsiteInterview with Nelson Wolff, July 29, 1994, University of Texas at San Antonio: Institute of Texan Cultures: Oral History Collections, UA 15.01, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Nelson 1940 births Living people County judges in Texas Democratic Party Texas state senators Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives People from San Antonio Mayors of San Antonio San Antonio City Council members Texas lawyers Businesspeople from Texas 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American judges