He also founded the Fort Burgwin Research Center and Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University, where he was Henderson-Morrison Professor of Prehistory.
[1][2] He won numerous awards throughout his career and was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
However, it was cut short due to serving in World War II as a rifle platoon leader with the 86th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division.
Soon after Wendorf was contacted by an amateur archaeologist about the remains of human bone fragments that he had previously found around Midland.
Following this excavation Wendorf joined the staff of what is now Texas Tech University where he held the first ever summer archaeological field school.
Denver Fred Wendorf was a husband to his wife Christy Bednar and a brother to his sisters, Mildred DiMaggio and Mary Ann Stripling.