DuPage legal community mourns retired judge with 'tremendous empathy' for victims of crime

Sometimes on Mother's Day, she would get a phone call from Michael Wolfe.

More often, Pam Anderson and her husband, Shelly, would meet with the former DuPage County prosecutor and retired judge for lunch or dinner.

Wolfe prosecuted the drunken driver who killed the couple's teenage daughter, her two best friends and a mother of three children. He secured the driver's conviction more than 20 years ago.

"There's never closure. It's just with us every single day," Pam Anderson said.

Wolfe understood that. It's why he still showed great concern for the families of the victims and held on to pictures of the three girls - Jenni Anderson, Allison Matzdorf and Jennifer Roberts, all Waubonsie Valley High School students.

"I just think he was a very caring man," Jenni's dad said.

Wolfe, who brought a relentless focus prosecuting some of the most heinous criminals in the county's history, died Tuesday, roughly a year after retiring from the bench. He died from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, DuPage Coroner Richard Jorgensen said. The Warrenville man was 60.

A longtime assistant state's attorney, Wolfe was part of the team that prosecuted convicted killer Brian Dugan for the 1983 abduction, rape and murder of Jeanine Nicarico, a 10-year-old from Naperville.

As criminal prosecutions chief, Wolfe worked 61 straight 12-hour days in 2006 on the case against convicted serial killer Paul Runge.

"Everything with him was you do your absolute best, and you do whatever it took," DuPage Chief Judge Daniel Guerin said. "He would teach a lot of the young assistant state's attorneys you go out to the scene of the crimes. You go out and meet with the police officers at the stations. You don't just sit in the office and have everything come to you."

Wolfe supervised Guerin in the child abuse and domestic violence unit and as chief of the felony division. He poured himself into his cases and had tremendous empathy for victims, ensuring they understand the legal process and had arrangements for child care, Guerin said.

"He had a huge heart for people who had suffered," he said.

In 2008, Wolfe received the Chicago Crime Commission's first Mitchell A. Mars award, named after the federal prosecutor who took on organized crime in the Family Secrets mob trial. Illinois Appellate Justice Joseph Birkett, then DuPage state's attorney, nominated Wolfe for the honor.

"He was innovative, smart, compassionate, highly ethical," Birkett said.

He and Wolfe wrote legislation doubling the maximum prison sentence - to 28 from 14 years - for intoxicated drivers who kill more than one person.

The 1997 deaths of the three Waubonsie students and a fourth victim, Ana Pryor, inspired the legislation. The driver who caused the crash served less than a third of a 13-year prison term.

For years, Wolfe checked in with the girls' families, and that's true of a number of his cases, former DuPage Chief Judge Kathryn Creswell said.

"When victims or their families would have birthday parties or family get-togethers, he'd be invited because they'd thought of him as a family member," she said.

In DuPage legal circles, he was "Wolfey," a down-to-earth, loyal friend with self-deprecating humor, and a dog lover who had a Weimaraner named Eva.

"His neighbors absolutely loved him," Birkett said. "He was the guy that would be picking up your mail if you were on vacation."

Wolfe grew up in a large family in Oak Park and liked practical jokes. He went to Fenwick High School, played rugby at Marquette University and earned his law degree from John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

"He's the funniest person I've ever known," Creswell said. "You talk to anybody that knows him, they have hilarious stories about him, just a dry sense of humor. One of the skills that he had as a lawyer was his ability to think on his feet, and his wit was so quick."

In 2010, Wolfe was appointed a judge, often presiding over cases involving defendants who represented themselves. Creswell later moved him from eviction to juvenile court.

"I can remember kind of wondering how it was going to go because he didn't have kids of his own, and I just heard glowing comments from lawyers that appeared in front of him," she said.

He also volunteered for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and spent years mentoring one boy who eventually joined the military. "Mike was so proud of him, and when Mike was installed as an associate judge, his little brother was there in his military uniform, and it was just very touching," Creswell said.

Also at Wolfe's swearing-in? Jenni Anderson's parents.

"We really, all three families, really loved him, and we would see him for years afterward," her dad said.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 46 N. Wolf Rd., Northlake. Burial will be private. Instead of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, 1140 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago.