William Wood, the founding director of the University’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and husband of former University spokesperson Carol Wood, passed away Friday morning in Birmingham, Ala. at the age of 69 after a seven-year battle with dementia.
His wife was by his side when he passed.
“The last four years have been a decline to where he doesn’t really talk anymore, but we still get smiles out of him, and laughs,” Carol Wood said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily two months ago. “He did so many things, I mean just little things; he’s just a wonderful person, great sense of humor. You miss that. You miss the sense of humor and the conversations, but he’s still Bill.”
William Wood’s sense of humor is something few will forget, especially at the offices of The Virginian-Pilot. He began his decade-long stint as the Pilot’s editorial page editor in 1983 at 39 years old.
“He is sort of a legend in this building,” said Donald Luzzatto, the current Virginian-Pilot editorial page editor. “Just one of those guys who focused on the right thing in the right way and did it with real grace and wit, which is really hard to do. He set the standard, in the editorial section, for the ways things can be done. He really managed a humor about him even in a difficult position.”
Wood was revered by his colleagues for his exceptional work as an editor, Weldon Cooper Center Director John Thomas said. Wood served as publications director and editor of the Center’s Virginia newsletter until 2007 and as the director of the Sorensen Institute until 2005, when poor health forced him to step down.
Wood created the Sorensen Institute in 1993 as a training organization for emerging political leaders in Virginia. More than 1,000 Virginians have graduated from the institute.
“Bill was certainly my role model in this job because he was such a fair and friendly, genuine political figure,” said Bob Gibson, current executive director of the institute. “He was a truly great role model because Sorensen was kept alive through his actions … he was great at bringing [political partisans] together and making them talk together. He was a very fine teacher of ethics by example.”
The Virginia General Assembly in 2005 recognized Wood with a joint resolution, commending him for his leadership of the institute and his long career in journalism.
“Bill possessed a deep commitment to public ethics, knowledge and reason in all aspects of life, and delivering important information with clarity and objectivity,” Thomas said in an email. “His ability to accomplish those elements was exceeded only by his humility, sense of humor, and love of life — especially his wife Carol.”
Wood’s friends said he would be remembered as a hard worker who maintained a great attitude even in the toughest of situations. “All of his colleagues here at the center have agonized with his medical decline and will miss his magical countenance intensely,” Thomas said.
A memorial will be held Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. in the University Chapel. A reception at Carr’s Hill will follow the service.
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