Bernard B. Wolfe, judge, state rep and SIDS activist, dead at 101

Maureen O'Donnell
@suntimesobits | email

The nation’s first statewide push to reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome started in Illinois under the leadership of Bernard Wolfe.

After a friend lost a baby to SIDS, Mr. Wolfe — at the time an Illinois lawmaker — helped organize a bipartisan commission in 1973 to investigate what was once called “crib death.” The group interviewed medical examiners, physicians and grieving families around the state.
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He said he was seeking “to remove the stigma” for families.

“Coroners, fire rescue squads and police must be informed SIDS is a real killer,” he said at the time. “These unexplained deaths needn’t be linked with abuse.”

“One of the most important changes that came out of [his] study were the recommendations that SIDS be an acceptable diagnosis on the death certificate,” said Nancy Maruyama, a registered nurse and executive director of the organization SIDS of Illinois.

Mr. Wolfe’s “deep dedication to all bereaved parents and their beloved babies was clearly evident,” Maruyama said. “He brought SIDS to the forefront in Illinois, insisting that these families be treated with compassion and not suspicion.”

With SIDS, an otherwise healthy baby dies unexpectedly, usually in its sleep. Some scientists theorize it’s linked to an abnormality in the part of the brain that regulates heart rate, breathing and waking, and that environmental factors may also be involved, such as stomach-sleeping, soft bedding, high room temperatures and exposure to smoking.

It remains the top killer of infants between 1 and 12 months old, but after educational efforts like the 1994 national Back to Sleep campaign–which encouraged putting babies to bed on their backs–SIDS deaths dropped 50 percent nationwide. In Illinois, they have decreased by 76 percent, Maruyama said.

Before he died on April 9 at 101, Mr. Wolfe served five terms, from 1964 to 1974, as a state representative from Chicago. His statehouse friends included Abner Mikva, Anthony Scariano and Paul Simon — part of a group dubbed the “Kosher Nostra.”

After leaving the legislature, Mr. Wolfe spent a decade as a Cook County judge. He then worked as a court-appointed mediator in divorce cases. Earlier in his career, he worked in private practice and as a federal prosecutor.