Judi Wolf was a woman for all costumes.

“What is theatre without costumes?” she was fond of saying. “It’s radio!”

Wolf, a longtime philanthropist and trustee for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, is the namesake of the Wolf Theatre, the largest performing space in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex. It was a gift from her husband, noted Denver oil and gas pioneer and attorney Marvin Wolf, who died in 2020. Judi died at her Cherry Hills home on March 25 after a long illness. 

Wolf was a Denver native who graduated from Denver East High School and earned a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Denver after also having studied at the University of California-Berkeley, Boston University and the Universidad de las Américas in Mexico City. She spoke five languages, taught Spanish at Graland Country Day School and was named as the Fine Arts Foundation Citizen of the Arts in 2012.

“Her worldliness, her intelligence and her gift for connecting with people — often in their own language — became defining aspects of both her personal charm and her philanthropic influence,” the Denver Center said in a statement.

“Judi was one smart cookie,” added contributing Denver Gazette society journalist Joanne Davidson. “I’ll never forget when members of the Missoni fashion family came to Denver to show their clothes, and they didn’t speak English at all. But because Judi spoke fluent Italian, they were chatting away like old friends throughout the whole luncheon. It was amazing to see.”

Wolf was a founding member of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Women’s Voices Fund, the first endowment of its kind in the nation to support female playwrights and directors.

In 1992, the Wolfs bought the naming rights for the reception salon at the Buell Theatre, which was rechristened the “Marvin and Judi Wolf Room.” The lavishly decorated upstairs corner was re- fashioned in the Mediterranean style of Judi‘s favorite retreat in La Jolla, Calif. If you look carefully at the expansive mural on the wall, you will find a red wolf frolicking in the landscape.

“Red” was both Wolf’s color — and her moniker. From her flaming red hair to her flair for the dramatic, Wolf simply exuded red. As befitting a woman of her style, her age has never been made public.

She often outshone the performers on stages throughout the Denver Performing Arts Complex. And she loved to make an entrance: Even if only on the way to her seat.

She arrived at “The Little Mermaid” pre-Broadway opening night in 2007 dressed as Ariel’s mother. She made a grand walk down the Ellie Caulkins Opera House aisle holding balloons in the shape of fish, her household manager following behind blowing bubbles.

She wore a toga to the opening of the 10-hour epic Greek cycle Tantalus in 2000.

“That’s Judi,” said former DCPA Chairman Martin Semple.

Her friends said that a lot: “That’s Judi.”

With her playful smile, trademark shock of flaming red hair and impeccably tailored outfits that were always on theme, you could say that when Judi Wolf arrived at the theatre, the show already had begun.

And in many ways, it had.

“I always had the sense that Judi could leap out of her seat at any time, jump onto a stage and give her own performance,” said longtime Denver Center Costume Crafts Director Kevin Copenhaver.

Her marriage to Marvin Wolf was not just a romance, the DCPA statement reads, “but a partnership that would leave an indelible mark on Colorado’s cultural landscape.” Her philanthropy extended from the Colorado Ballet to Central City Opera and beyond.

Judi Wolf was a staunch supporter of all theater programming at the DCPA since its beginning in 1979. She loved dressing for benefits like the annual Hattitude fashion show that raised funds for theatre education programs. At a recent affair, she wore a bright red gown from top to bottom as she sang “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

There are method actors, and there are method dressers. Imagine what the audience must have thought when Wolf arrived at the opening of the Theatre Company’s “The Man Who Came to Dinner” in 1990 wearing a cocktail dress and riding in a wheelchair. The play’s cranky protagonist, Sheridan Whiteside, of course, spends the play in a wheelchair. Now that is commitment to craft.

But in this case, Wolf told me, she needed it.

“I had tripped walking out of the beauty shop,” she said, “so I rode to the opening in an ambulance with ice on my knee and ankle. It was opening night. I wasn’t going to miss it.”

“Judi Wolf helped shape Denver into the vibrant cultural city we are so proud of today,” said former Mayor Michael Hancock. “Her passion for the arts wasn’t just visible — it was contagious. She lifted up our cultural institutions, championed artists, and understood that a great city must nourish creativity just as much as commerce.”

 Dressing up was her playtime from the time she was 6.

“I started in my mother’s ballgowns,” she once told me. “I would put them on and get completely lost in them — because, after all, I was only 6.”

She was particularly fond of sponsoring a recurring column in the Denver Center’s Applause Magazine because she believed the costume arts are underappreciated and must be championed.

The Stage Theatre was officially renamed the Marvin and Judi Wolf Theatre in 2021 after a renovation that reduced its capacity to 610. It was part of a $54 million campaign called “A Grander Opening.” The Wolfs were the first to step up. Their lead gift “was absolutely critical,” Semple said. “They were the opening act.”

The campaign included renaming the former Ricketson Theatre as The Singleton after former Denver Post owner Dean Singleton, who considered Judi Wolf to be one of his dearest friends.

“It just feels right,” he said at the time of the two sharing neighboring theaters. “We worked together side-by-side, so it’s kind of like coming full circle now that there will be a Seawell Ballroom and a Wolf Theatre and a Singleton Theatre side by side.”

When Denver dance legend Cleo Parker Robinson thinks of Wolf, she thinks of passion. She described Wolf’s style as playful, timeless, curated and fearless … with just a hint of smolder and tease.

“Oh, Judi is a sexy lady — absolutely,” Robinson said. “That’s just the way she is.”

Imitating her sultry voice, Davidson added: “Judi doesn’t speak … she purrs.”

If Wolf were a dance, Robinson knows just which one.

“She’d be The Volcano,” Robinson said, “because Judi is the goddess of fire.”

A service will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday (March 31) at Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape St. in Denver. Her family asks that donations be made to the DCPA’s Women’s Voices Fund in Wolf’s memory.

This report includes material Senior Arts Journalist John Moore has reported over the past 25 years. Several quotes were contributed before her death.