Professor Heinz Wolff, Vice-President of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, has died at the age of 89.
Professor Wolff was appointed to the College as Vice-President in 1989. He was a member of the fund raising committee for the Disability and Information Resource Centre (DISC), the precursor to the Library, and the establishment of official headquarters in offices in Marshalsea Road for the then College of Occupational Therapists.
In addition, Professor Wolff was chairman of the College’s Fellowship Standing Committee from 1998 until 2010, leading the awarding panel for distinguished fellowships to members for their services to the profession.
Professor Wolff graduated in Physiology and Physics and probably was the first individual to call himself a “Bioengineer”. He has worked as the director of Bioengineering Divisions, for the Medical Research Council, at both the National Institute for Medical Research, and the Clinical Research Centre. Whilst serving as the UK delegate on the European Commission Standing Committee on Bio-Medical Engineering Research, he coined the phrase “Tools for Living”, to describe any technology based device intended to enhance the quality of life of anybody with a disability. In 1983 he founded the self- financing, Institute for Bioengineering at Brunel University, which he directed until 1995. He shared his professorial duties with those of a scientific entertainer on Radio and TV, hosting the Great Egg Race from 1977 – 1986.
Chief Executive of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Julia Scott says: “We were honoured to have Professor Wolff work so closely with the Royal College of Occupational Therapists for such a long period of time. He was a champion of pushing boundaries for people with disabilities through his passion for engineering – so often demonstrated through ‘The Great Egg Race’ for which he was most well-known. What is less well-known is his passion for technology as a solution for solving or helping human conditions, a passion he pursued to the very end with his pioneering work launching the Give&TakeCare Initiative last year. His focus on caring for vulnerable individuals within society was infectious, inspirational and ground- breaking. He will be sorely missed.”
