8/3/2019 Rescuer Steve Shaffer

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  University of Denver Magazine Connections  41

management and informatics for develop-ing enterprises. He also has been appointed

 vice chair of the Daniels College of Business

alumni advisory board.

Theodore Merriam (JD ’78, LLM ’82) prac-

tices tax defense law in Denver with the Mer-riam Law Firm. He and his wife of 27 years,

Donna, live in Golden, Colo. The couple has

two daughters, both of whom are in college.

Dennis Wolf (MBA ’78) of Monte Sereno,Calif., joined the board of directors for

BigBand Networks. Dennis serves on the

boards of directors for Codexis and Quan-tum Communication and has served infinancial management roles at Apple and Sun

Microsystems.

 1980David Simmons (BA ’80, JD ’85) of Denver

manages a bilingual immigration law office.He is an adjunct professor at the Sturm Col-

lege of Law, where he teaches immigrationlaw in Spanish, and he was named a ColoradoSuper Lawyer in 2008 and 2009. David and

his wife, Neri, have two children, Chester andLaura.

1981 Joan Rosenthal (BSBA ’81) owns MarigoldCatering in Cleveland. She earned an MBA 

from Cleveland State University.

1982 Annie (Rosset)

Huston (BA ’82) of 

Denver co-founded

Columbine Design,Landscape Architects

and Contractors, locatedin Englewood, Colo.

H. Gordon Roberts (MSJA ’82) of Catasauqua,

Pa., passed the 20-year milestone in his positionas the limited jurisdiction court administrator

for the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allen-town, Pa. Recently, Gordon traveled to Russia

 with his wife, Valerie, and their three sons. The

trip re-created a similar one 33 years earlierduring which he and Valerie met.

1984Barbara Meikle (BFA ’84) of Tesuque, N.M.,

owns an art gallery with fellow artist Aleta

Pippin and produces oil paintings in a styleshe describes as “expressive impressionism.”

Rescuer Steve Shaffer 

Steve Shaffer has found his heaven on

Earth.

His personal piece of paradise is

WOLF—a rescue organization and sanctuary 

near Fort Collins, Colo., that is home to 30

captive-bred wolves and wolf dogs.

WOLF’s 180 acres of pine and aspen

forest are a sanctuary for Shaffer, too. For

the past decade, Shaffer (BSBA accounting

’72) has been volunteering at the facility—

feeding animals, cleaning and maintaining

their enclosures, working to rehabilitate

them, conducting educational outreach

and chairing the nonprofit’s finance and

accounting committee.

“Steve goes way beyond the average

volunteer,” says sanctuary founder Frank

Wendland.

Shaffer, a semi-retired CPA andentrepreneur, even relocated from Littleton,

Colo., to be closer to the sanctuary, where he now volunteers at least three days each week.

Working with wolves is emotionally satisfying, Shaffer says, and it lowers his blood pressure

and blood sugar, too (he has Type II diabetes).

“I don’t even miss DU hockey since I’ve been up here,” Shaffer says, walking slowly toward

a forested enclosure. He’s greeted by excited yips from Merlin and Luna; a wolf dog named

 Arkte peers warily from a brush-shrouded perch high on the hill.

“It makes my day when they come up to the fence,” Shaffer says, noting that when they 

arrive at WOLF, many animals are sick, malnourished and wary of humans. Arkte’s story is

typical, he says: She spent six years confined to a travel kennel because her owner couldn’t

manage her dominant personality.

“They can challenge authority; that’s a big reason people can’t keep them as pets,” Shaffer

says. “They trained me pretty quickly, though.”

The Humane Society of the United States considers wolf dogs to be wild animals and

advocates for an international ban on their private possession, breeding and sale. Although they 

make notoriously difficult house pets and are illegal in some states, wolf dog puppies are still

widely available. But many are abused and neglected, winding up chained in backyards or penned

in garages, Shaffer says, noting that thousands of wolf dogs are killed in the U.S. every year.

WOLF has helped rescue more than 7,500 animals since its founding in 1995. “It’s aplace for these animals to go where they won’t be euthanized due to the ignorance of people,”

Shaffer says.

Shaffer shares WOLF’s mission of education as a measure of prevention. “You may 

think it’s cool to have a wolf dog as a pet, but you’re not doing the animals any favors,” he

admonishes. “You don’t know what you’re in for.”

He learned firsthand. Shaffer says he became “hooked” on wolves years ago after

“inheriting” Cheyenne, a wolf dog, from his ex.

Cheyenne’s ashes are scattered at WOLF, and Shaffer says that eventually, his will be, too.

“I have a great admiration, love and respect for [wolves],” Shaffer says. “If I could spend all

of my time up here, I would.”

>>www.wolfsanctuary.net

>>See a video of Steve Shaffer and WOLF at www.youtube.com/uofdenver

—Chelsey Baker-Hauck

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