Dr. Richard A. Wolfe has accomplished a lot in his life as a chemical engineer and a nuclear engineer with a patented process for clean coal production, a vintner who brought this industry to the Appalachian High Country, a mountain climber who topped Kilimanjaro and entrepreneur. Much of that has come to fruition during the last decade as he charged past the age of 70. During that time his near constant companion was a Chocolate Labrador Retriever with a gregarious and adventurous personality named Coffee. This is the story of that life – with Coffee. Dr. Richard A. Wolfe was born in the coal mining town of Sophia, West Virginia on January 11, 1940. His father was a coal miner who died of Black Lung disease at the age of 67 when Dr. Wolfe was 28. Wolfe earned his MS and Ph.D. Degrees from the University of Cincinnati in 1967 and 1972 in Nuclear Engineering. He worked for Monsanto Research Corporation (1961-1974), a prime contractor for the US Atomic Energy Commission, building the first nuclear powered energy package for the moon. Called the "Snap 27 Thermoelectric Generator," the package was delivered to the Moon on July 20, 1969 by Apollo Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Dr. Wolfe joined the US Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. from 1974-1979 and served as the Program Manager for the safe disposal of nuclear waste and in the development of the Uranium Centrifuge Enrichment Program. He then joined United Coal Company in Bristol, Virginia in 1979, where he was Vice President of Research and Development to 1988. Then in 1988, he purchased the Research Division from United Coal and established the Coal Technology Corporation in Bristol, Virginia and began work on one of the first USA, clean coal conversion mild-gasification pilot plants under a multi-million dollar contract from the US Department of Energy. In 2000, Dr. Wolfe formed the Carbonite Corporation for the purpose of building the first Commercial Carbonite Coal Conversion plant in Virginia. In 2001, Dr. Wolfe joined the staff of Appalachian State University as Director of Applied Science and Research Programs with the focus on teaching farmers how to grow wine grapes in the Appalachian Mountains and starting the wine industry in this region of North Carolina. In this capacity he started the Banner Elk Winery and Inn, and has continued to utilize the output of the area's vineyards in wine production. Dr. Wolfe has continued to work with the Carbonite Technology and the Virginia Carbonite Plant n Norton, VA. He has spoken internationally about the development of this patented technology. In September 2014, became an officer in Fuel Tech, Inc. with an advisory position as Vice President of Fuel Conversion Technologies. He has served on the energy research staffs at the University of Kentucky, West Virginia University and currently serves on the Advisory Board at the Virginia Tech's Center of Coal and Energy Research. He was appointed by five different Governors of Virginia to the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission.