HARTFORD — Gary Wolff of Woodstock received the 2017 Robert C. Knox Jr. YMCA Distinguished Leadership Award at the YMCA of Greater Hartford’s recent annual meeting.
This award honors the memory of the late Robert C. Knox Jr., a Hartford insurance executive who was a key volunteer leader and contributor to the YMCA in the 1960s and 1970s.
Gary Wolff, a lifelong Hartford YMCA participant, exemplifies the very best of the community, and truly embodies the values that RC Knox winners should have, YMCA officials said. Wolff grew up going to the Hartford YMCA to swim, and made sure that his children, Jonathan and Kristina, got the same wonderful experience at the Indian Valley Family YMCA. Now, he and his wife, Eileen, live in Woodstock and enjoy swimming and exercising at the Hale YMCA Youth & Family Center.
 In 2010 he was awarded the Indian Valley Community Leader of the Year award due to his contributions to that facility. Wolff is president of Wolff Wealth Advisors, and works with small business owners every day. Much like the award’s namesake, Robert C. Knox Jr., who was an insurance executive, Wolff uses his intelligence and knowledge to help those in the community. And it is Wolff’s business and fiscal acumen that make him so valuable as a member of the YMCA Board of Directors who serves as chair of the Endowment Development Committee and Finance Committee. He also uses his skills as co-chair of the Indian Valley Family YMCA’s capital campaign, where he is an exceptionally successful fund-raiser.
Wolff said: “I am so honored to receive this award, and to be able to contribute to helping our Y community. At the YMCA of Greater Hartford, we provide millions of dollars in financial assistance to make our programs and services affordable. I love watching children work all summer so that they are prepared for school in the fall; I am proud to see older adults participate in our Silver Sneakers program; and I am emboldened to see the positive impact of exercise on the lives of cancer survivors in our LIVESTRONG program. I believe that you get more than you give when you know you made an impact on someone’s life, and I know that when others succeed, it helps us all.”
YMCA of Greater Hartford President and CEO Harold Sparrow said, “Gary’s commitment to our Board and to the greater Y community is unparalleled. He dedicates his time to serving on several committees, but it is his passion that separates him from the pack. The good he has done has benefited so many lives in the 52 town and communities we serve, and I am thrilled to see his dedication being honored.”