George Wolfe, Wolfie’s Pizza owner, to be honored by foundation for rock drummer he admired
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One of the first things George Wolfe said to Hannah Isenberg was that he was not a “total weirdo.”
Each already had heard of the other. Isenberg knew Wolfe was a big fan of the Canadian rock band Rush; Wolfe knew Isenberg was a niece of the band’s legendary drummer, Neil Peart.
After getting an apartment in Freeport three or four years ago, Isenberg said everyone she met in the borough told her that she had to meet Wolfe, described to her as the biggest Rush fan in the world.
Isenberg, 32, was walking home one day when Wolfe yelled out her name to introduce himself and show her the Rush shirt he was wearing.
“I think George actually was the biggest Rush fan in the world,” she said. “From there, we became close. We would see each other all the time.”
George Herbert Wolfe of Freeport died Sunday, March 26, 2023, from kidney cancer. He was 61.
A Freeport native, Wolfe owned and operated Wolfie’s Pizza in Brackenridge, Freeport and, briefly, near Butler. A drummer, he played in multiple local bands, said Kevin Wolfe, 60, one of George’s six brothers, all of whom were holding onto him as he took his last breath.
“George was a unique individual. He would give the shirt off his back to anybody he met, at the expense of him not eating or whatever,” Kevin Wolfe said. “He never worried about himself. He always worried about everybody else.”
George ran Wolfie’s Pizza with his wife, Jacki Koedel Wolfe, 58, of Freeport. They were married from 1989 until they divorced in 2004 but remained friends.
They dated for seven years before marrying.
“What I noticed about him right away was he was just so kind, just such a nice guy,” she said. “That’s what drew me in. His personality was just awesome. I never met anybody like him before.”
Wolfie’s trademark was Wolfie’s Pig Pie, which Kevin Wolfe described as a pizza stuffed with Italian hoagie ingredients.
“He liked to make pizza all the time. His dad used to make pizza when they were all growing up,” Koedel Wolfe said. “He just liked making it and making it from scratch. He just decided that’s what he wanted to do.”
George was openly gay and came out during their marriage, Koedel Wolfe said. Because of his Catholic upbringing, she said, he struggled with some issues. He became an advocate for gay rights and equality, and regained his faith before he passed.
“I just always loved him, and I couldn’t be mad at him for being who he was,” she said. “We just always remained very close. I didn’t want to lose him. Neither one of us wanted out of each other’s lives.”
They lived together for about the last two years of George’s life. Koedel Wolfe said she told him to sell his house and move in with her after back pain made it difficult for him to walk or take care of his home. His cancer diagnosis followed in June 2021.
“He loved everybody unconditionally. That’s probably the reason I never wanted him out of my life,” she said. “I never doubted ever his love for me. He loved me with all his heart.”
Koedel Wolfe said George was playing a guitar when she met him. She helped him to get his first drum set.
“That was the instrument he excelled on, and then he went right into bands and he was always in a band,” she said.
While Kansas was another band George loved, Kevin Wolfe said Rush was his brother’s favorite and Peart was his inspiration as a drummer. George knew their song “Subdivisions” note for note and could parallel Peart.
Peart, who also was the primary songwriter for Rush, died from brain cancer on Jan. 7, 2020, at 67.
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Kevin Wolfe said George loved Isenberg for who she was, not just because she was related to Peart. Cancer was a journey they shared together.
“She was passionate about her Uncle Neil, and so was George,” Kevin Wolfe said. “She’s a very special person in my brother’s life.”
For Christmas 2021, George gifted to Isenberg a collection of Rush memorabilia he had obtained from retired Valley News Dispatch reporter Rex Rutkoski, who over time had interviewed all of the band’s members, including Peart. Isenberg said the stories dated to the 1970s and included things she had never seen before.
“I was able to sit and read through this whole piece of his life in Pittsburgh before I was even here, which was really special,” she said. “He gave me this gift when I needed it, and I did need it. It was the most thoughtful gift I ever received. I was honored he wanted to give it to me.”
To honor George, Isenberg is making T-shirts featuring the Wolfie’s Pizza neon sign on the front and his motto, “Make pizza, not war,” on the back. The shirts are available for a limited time online at hivemarketingagency.com.
Isenberg said George was supportive of her and her husband, Freeport native Alex Isenberg, both of whom are musicians.
“One of the best things he ever said to me was, ‘You have the gift of writing, just like your uncle,’ ” she said. “That’s the greatest thing anyone could have said.”
At the request of George’s family, proceeds from shirt sales will go to the Peart Family Memorial Fund in George’s name. Isenberg’s mother, Nancy Peart, started the fund to aid cancer treatment facilities across North America after the deaths of her brother, Neil, and their father, Glen Peart, who died from pancreatic cancer in June 2021.
“We thought George would really like that,” Kevin Wolfe said.
George also will be honored with an award named for him at the fund’s annual golf tournament Aug. 28 at the Royal Niagara Golf Club. The “George Wolfe Spirit of the Links” will be given to the golfer who brings the most fun to the course, Isenberg said.
“We’ll carry a piece of George with us now everywhere we go,” Isenberg said. “We’ll lift up George in the way he held my uncle up high.”
Visitation for George Wolfe will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Redmond Funeral Home, 524 High St., Freeport. His funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Freeport.