OBITUARIES : PASSINGS : James R. Wolfe; Rail Executive

James R. Wolfe, 58, chairman and chief executive officer of CNW Corp. who began his career as a railroad lawyer and served as CNW’s chief executive for nearly 12 years, first as president and CEO of the Chicago & North Western Transportation Co., then as chairman, president and CEO of CNW Corp., a holding company formed in March, 1985. Last month Wolfe relinquished the presidency of CNW and its railroad subsidiary to Robert W. Schmiege, chief operating officer of both Chicago-based businesses. Wolfe’s grandfather had been a locomotive engineer for the Wabash Railroad. His father, James E. Wolfe, was vice president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and a well-known labor negotiator for the national railroad industry. In Chicago on Monday of cancer.