He was known as a prominent abstract expressionist artist and painter and taught art at some of the most prestigious colleges and universities.

Woelffer was one of the important people in bringing modernism to Los Angeles, when he taught at Chouinard Art Institute.

In 1959 he and his wife Dina moved to Los Angeles, California, where they settled down in the Mount Washington neighborhood.

In 1991 he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

He felt such a strong attachment to Otis that he left his estate to the college in the form of an endowment, to set up a scholarship fund to benefit future artists.