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Obituary

Air Animal co-founder took reins in all ways

Her husband is a prominent veterinarian, but that never kept Millie Woolf in his shadow - or anyone else's.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published November 4, 2005

MILDRED "MILLIE' WOOLF, 1938-2005

DAVIS ISLANDS - When Millie Weinstein was 19, she called her boyfriend, a student at the University of Pennsylvania. She told him he had to come meet her in New York that weekend.

"What's the occasion?" he asked.

"We're getting engaged," she said.

"That's great," he said. "When's the wedding?"

"August."

Thus began the 48-year marriage of Millie and Dr. Walter Woolf. Dr. Woolf went on to become one of Tampa's most prominent veterinarians, and together they founded Air Animal, an internationally known company that transports pets and other animals.

Mrs. Woolf died Saturday (Oct. 29, 2005) after battling cancer for two years. She was 67.

Because Dr. Woolf was already a well-known veterinarian when they started Air Animal, many people thought he owned the company and that Mrs. Woolf was an employee. But Mrs. Woolf was the company's president, and Dr. Woolf attributed Air Animal's success to her work.

"I was the sales and marketing person, and she was the financial person," he said. "One time, somebody asked her, "What's it like working for your husband?' and she said, totally deadpan, "Who says I work for him? He works for me."'

In some ways, Mrs. Woolf was old-fashioned. When her children were young, she insisted on being home from work by 3:30 p.m. She wanted to be there when they came home.

But she was also a forceful, dynamic woman, who wasn't afraid to take charge.

"She was the leader, and I was the eager follower," Dr. Woolf said.

Mrs. Woolf never finished college but had a penchant for math and a knack for helping students feel comfortable with algebra. She tutored countless high school students at her home on Davis Islands, and many of today's local business leaders sought her help when preparing for college entrance exams.

"She wouldn't give you the solution," her son, Eric, said. "She'd show the way that you could find the solution yourself, and that light bulb would go on in your head. That was the way she operated."

She approached life, business and community issues with the same no-nonsense approach that she used with algebra, her husband said. If there was a problem, there must be a solution. All she had to do was find it.

In the 1970s, she founded a nonprofit service called Dial-a-Bus that provided transportation, on a voluntary donation basis, for residents of retirement communities. Dial-a-Bus served residents of Tampa for many years, until retirement communities started offering their own service.

Running Dial-a-Bus and working as her husband's office manager led to the founding of Air Animal on Cypress Street.

Dr. Woolf's animal clinic had housed animals that were stranded at the airport, and Mrs. Woolf came up with the idea of starting a business that transports animals for people who were relocating.

Air Animal was a new kind of business at the time and today remains an international leader in its industry. It picks up pets, cares for them until the owners are settled, then delivers them to their new home.

Mrs. Woolf was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. She fought it hard through a variety of procedures.

"She wouldn't give up," her husband said. "When the doctors told her, "We didn't get the results we wanted,' meaning that the treatment hadn't worked, she'd just say, "Okay, so what do we do next?"'

Besides her husband and son, Mrs. Woolf is survived by daughter Andrea Parker and four grandchildren.

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 08:47:07]