Ronald DeWolf

Ronald Edward DeWolf (May 7, 1934 – September 16, 1991), born Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, Jr., also known as "Nibs" Hubbard, was the eldest child of Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard and Hubbard's first wife, Margaret Louise Grubb.

In his 1983 interview with Penthouse magazine, DeWolf said he was born prematurely; his father constructed a makeshift incubator with a shoe box, later a cupboard drawer, and used blankets and an electric light bulb to keep the baby warm.

Hubbard, Jr. claimed to have helped his father in the early days of Scientology but later rejected his father and Scientology, changing his name to Ronald DeWolf. On November 6, 1982, in a Riverside, California, court, DeWolf sued for control of his father's estate, saying that his father was either deceased or incompetent. His father was proven to still be alive.

Comments about his father

In the mid-1980s, DeWolf gave a series of sworn statements and interviews detailing his father's history. DeWolf explained his father had been "deeply involved in the occult and black-magic." According to DeWolf, Aleister Crowley's death in 1947 was a pivotal event that led Hubbard to "take over the mantle of the Beast". DeWolf claimed that "Black magic is the inner core of Scientology", arguing that "my father did not worship Satan. He thought he was Satan."

In the lengthy 1983 interview with Penthouse magazine, DeWolf claimed that "99% of anything my father ever wrote or said about himself is untrue." In the same interview, he alleged that his father had claimed to be Satan incarnate, a con man, a KGB accomplice, and a drug addict. He also claimed that Errol Flynn was his father's best friend during the late 1950s, to the point of seeming an adoptive father to DeWolf, and the two friends engaged in various illegal activities together including drug smuggling and sex with underage girls. Speaking on WUSA in Washington, DC, in 1983, on the Carol Randolph Morning Break show, he further described the Sea Org as being analogous to the Hitler Youth and described drug importation operations he alleged his father had been involved in, citing organised crime connections in Mexico and Colombia. In his opinion Scientology was little more than a cult that existed to make money.

In 2014, Jamie DeWolf (Ronald's grandson) announced the discovery of Ronald DeWolf's unpublished memoir which had been written in 1981. That work discusses the Hubbards' history of occult practices.

Sued by Mary Sue Hubbard

In 1984, his step-mother Mary Sue Hubbard filed a $5-million suit for fraud against DeWolf for his 1982 suit to gain control of L. Ron Hubbard's estate.

Biography of L. Ron Hubbard

DeWolf was named as co-author with Bent Corydon of the 1987 edition of a highly critical book about Hubbard and the Church of Scientology titled L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?. Prior to publication, he sued the publisher Lyle Stuart, claiming breach of contract, and that his contributions were misrepresented. He retracted his negative comments about Hubbard and the church in submitted court affidavits, in which he called the biography "inaccurate and false", and demanded to have his name removed from the book. He said he was denied opportunity to review the book until it was already in print.

In A Piece of Blue Sky former Scientologist Jon Atack writes:

Nibs accepted a financial settlement from the Scientologists after his father's death in 1986, agreeing not to make further comment.

In the updated revision of L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?, which no longer listed DeWolf as coauthor, Corydon comments:

In the case of L. Ron Hubbard Jr.'s 1986 "legal settlement" with Scientology, he had accumulated sizable hospital bills due to recent emergency surgery. This left him weakened and heavily in debt. Concerned about the welfare of his family he finally agreed to a "settlement". This included his signing various prepared documents. I don't believe for a moment that Ron Jr. ever considered these prepared statements to be accurate representations of his thoughts and beliefs. The man was under duress.

Claims that DeWolf was paid for his statements have not been proven.

DeWolf died of diabetes complications in 1991. He was working as a security guard at the Ormsby House Hotel Casino in Carson City, Nevada at the time of his death.