Lew Wood (1929 – August 21, 2013) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

television journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

professional who reported for CBS News and

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

. Wood served as the news anchor on NBC's ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...

'' from 1975 to 1976. Today Show cast 1976

Early life

Wood was born in Indianapolis,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and attended Howe High School. He received a bachelor's degree in speech and

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

Career

In 1952, Wood began his broadcasting career at WDZ, a commercial

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

in Decatur, Illinois, soon after graduating from Purdue. He then joined WSBT, radio and TV broadcaster, in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

, in 1953. Wood joined the staff of CBS News as a national correspondent. He covered the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

for CBS News, including one of the

marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...

with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

He was one of the CBS reporters who covered President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

's visit to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, on November 22, 1963, on the day of Kennedy's assassination. Wood had covered Kennedy's morning speech in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

. Outside of reporting, Wood had taken a personal photograph of President Kennedy greeting supporters shortly before Kennedy left for the Dallas motorcade. Wood later learned that President Kennedy had been shot while speaking with CBS colleague

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hur ...

during a brief phone conversation. Rather had interrupted the conversation saying, "Hold On Lew — don’t go away" before telling Wood that Kennedy had been shot. Rather told Wood to go the Dallas hospital where Kennedy had been taken, which he did. Lew Wood also worked as a

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

for

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo stati ...

, the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

flagship station of NBC. In 1975, NBC hired Wood as the news anchor for its morning ''

'', succeeding longtime anchor, Frank Blair. Wood became only the third news anchor in the show's history. He anchored the news portion of the show opposite ''Today's'' other three on-air personalities: Barbara Walters,

Jim Hartz James Leroy Hartz (February 3, 1940 – April 17, 2022) was an American television personality, columnist and reporter during the mid- and late-1970s. At age 24, he was the youngest correspondent NBC had ever hired. Hartz became best known to a nat ...

and

Gene Shalit Eugene Shalit (born March 25, 1926) is an American retired journalist, television personality, Film criticism, film and Literary criticism, book critic and author. After starting to work part-time on NBC's ''Today (American TV program), The Toda ...

. Wood remained at ''Today'' for just one year. He left the show in 1976 after the ''Today Shows producers decided to shake up the show and take it in a new direction. For his part, Wood had joked that "he left the Today show, it was due to illness and fatigue. They were sick and tired of him." He was succeeded by

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

newsman

Floyd Kalber Floyd Kalber (December 23, 1924 – May 13, 2004) was an American television journalist and anchorman, nicknamed "The Big Tuna." Life and career Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent two years in the army during World War II and began his television ...

. Wood moved from television to

after leaving the ''Today Show''. He trained business executives from Fortune 500 corporations in

techniques to deal with the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

. He also served as the American Legion's National Director of Public Relations. Wood retired in 2006.

Death

Lew Wood died at a hospice in Riverside County, California, on August 21, 2013, at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Lew 2013 deaths American television news anchors American television reporters and correspondents NBC News people CBS News people Purdue University alumni Year of birth uncertain 1929 births