Willis D. Wood

Willis Wood was born in Brooklyn. In 1894 he spent a year studying at Amherst; but then he left and went into a stock brokerage office. In 1910 Amherst gave him an honorary A.M.

He was a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and he served on its governing board from 1911 to 1927; but perhaps he is best known as a trustee of Vassar, where he made an outstanding record. At some solemn convocation of the College he was sitting on the dais next to the President while the Dean, a dignified lady, was standing in front of them at the lectern delivering an address of considerable complexity. “Elsie,” said Wood in a hoarse whisper to the President, “what’s the name of this young woman?”

She told him.

“She has very good-looking legs,” he said.

That, however, was not his familiar field of expertise; he was a most remarkably useful trustee and worked hard at it.

His father-in-law [William J. Matheson] died and left a gorgeous great place on the bluffs overlooking Oyster Bay; and shortly afterward the stock-market crash of 1929 occurred. The raising of the inheritance taxes preoccupied Wood for some years, and he performed a most difficult job with extraordinary skill and wisdom.

He used to go to Amherst every year at Commencement, and see old friends and renew his youth. He liked young people, and was exceedingly kind and hospitable to a group of them who lived around Cold Spring Harbor. He was a fixture in that part of the world and was regarded with universal affection; and he deserved to be, for he was a gentle, lovable man.

George W. Martin
1958 Century Association Yearbook