The stories of people refusing to go gentle into that good night, to quote Dylan Thomas, are myriad. Physicist John B. Goodenough received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry at age 97, in 2019, for his groundbreaking work on lithium-ion batteries. Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira worked beyond his centenary, releasing his final feature film, in 2014, at 104. Jazz saxophonist Marshall Allen, after nearly 80 years as a sideman and large ensemble player, released his debut solo album at age 100 last year. William Shatner went to space at 90.
Boca Raton’s Larry Wolf is delighted by these high-profile examples of what he terms SuperAging, the capacity to get older without getting “old.” The founder and CEO of the marketing consultancy Wolf Group from 1978 to 2004, Wolf developed a client list that included Betty Crocker, Sunbeam and Exxon.
He has since dedicated his creativity to, in the parlance of his advertising career, “rebranding” aging. Now in his 80s, Wolf believes that “default aging”—the idea of retiring at 65 or 70, “and declining as gracefully and gently as possible”—is a fallacy, and he’s written two self-help books that support his idea of the seven “A’s” of SuperAging: attitude, awareness, activity, accomplishment, autonomy, attachment and avoidance. “SuperAging,” released in 2023 with co-author David Cravit, peaked at No. 104 on Amazon’s Gerontology Social Sciences bestseller list, and its interactive cousin, the “SuperAging Workbook,” dropped in 2025. Wolf also maintains SuperAging News, a website aggregating the latest information in longevity, wellness and “un-retirement.” He shares a few of his insights with Boca magazine.
On the importance of a positive attitude about getting older: Attitude is the most critical of all the seven A’s. It umbrellas all the others, because if you believe that you can live longer, and that life can continue to be fulfilling, then you’re motivated to become more aware, to accomplish, to nurture your attachments, to practice the other six A’s. But if you have a negative, pessimistic attitude, it works against your longevity, your health span, your quality of life. There’s all kinds of scientific research on what a critical variable attitude is.
On his own healthy-aging regimen: You have to continually challenge yourself with doing new things. I’m working with a tai chi master, and trying to master tai chi swordsmanship. You’ve never seen anything more ridiculous than me wielding a tai chi sword. But it’s very challenging, and kind of fun actually.
I’m big into exercise. I do my morning warm-up every day. I do Pilates intermittently. I’m an avid walker. I swim. Diet is very important, but it’s really very simple—portion control, avoid processed foods and sugars, eat primarily vegetarian, and above all, enjoy what you’re doing. … Mental exercise is as critical as physical exercise. I started to study Spanish, but I’m way too busy with work.
On “Blue Zones,” where residents often live past 100: Way back when, I had an Italian food company as a client; I coined the term, “spaghetti that was too good to leave in Italy.” And we went back to a little town in the middle of Sicily called Valledolmo. And I remember noticing a tremendous amount of very old people, but to get anywhere in Valledolmo, you had to walk up and down incredibly steep hills. People there were moving and exercising. So when you look at the blue zones, [in] one way or another, [residents are] all active, they’re all moving, and they all have a great sense of community. They all eat essentially very healthy diets. They intrinsically follow all the basics.
On going too far with anti-aging techniques: The point of life is enjoying it. To be too obsessed with exercise, with diet, takes away from your quality of life. I eat fundamentally a very healthy diet, but I’ll break down a couple of times a month and have a really good steak. You have to indulge yourself and do the things you like to do, and you’ve got to take time off for recreation. There’s nothing wrong with sitting down for a few hours and watching a good movie or a good TV series. It’s critical that you say, “to hell with a rigid regimen,” and make time to enjoy yourself.
This story is from the April 2026 issue of Boca magazine. For more like this, click here to subscribe to the magazine.
