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Walter Wolf | |
|---|---|
 Wolf in 2012 | |
| Born | (1939-10-05)5 October 1939 (age 86) |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Walter Wolf Racing |
Walter Wolf (born 5 October 1939) is a Slovenian-Canadian businessman who owned aFormula One team that won three races and is the name-sake of cigarette, perfume, and clothing brands.
Wolf was born inMaribor,Slovenia. His mother wasAustrian-Slovene fromLower Styria, while his father was aGerman fromReutlingen. Wolf spent his childhood in his birthtownMaribor, Slovenia, then a republic ofYugoslavia. After his father returned from aSoviet military internment camp in 1954, the family moved toWuppertal inWest Germany. In 1958, they moved to Canada.
In Canada, Wolf became a businessman.[citation needed] At first, his funds helped prop upFrank Williams' fledgling F1 team before Williams left in 1977 to formWilliams Grand Prix Engineering. Wolf's team continued asWalter Wolf Racing and before beingwound up in 1979 managed to win three F1 Grands Prix.
In 1993, Wolf helped finance the unsuccessful American fire apparatus company Firewolf Industries, housed in a formerPiper Aircraft factory building nearLakeland,Florida, US. The actor and vintage car collectorL. Christian Mixon worked as a sales manager for this company briefly in 1993.
Walter Wolf was inducted into theCanadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1998.[1]
In 2008, he was involved in the so-calledPatria affair, a corruption scandal involving theFinnish companyPatria. The Finnish broadcasting companyYLE's investigative program MOT made claims that he was a mediator in the paying of bribes to Slovenian government officials, including Prime MinisterJanez Janša. Both Wolf and Janša rejected all accusations as being untrue.[2] Finnish police issued an arrest warrant against him, but so far he has not been apprehended.
The Croatian tobacco companyAdris grupa markets one of its cigarette brands as "Walter Wolf".[3]There were also perfumes marketed under the Walter Wolf name.[4]
