J. Walter Wood
September 9, 1878-March 18, 1955
The Niles Daily Star (Niles, Berrien Co., MI) Saturday, March 19, 1955, page 1, col. 2-3, continued on page 2, col. microfilm Niles District Library
J. Walter Wood, Civic Leader and Former Mayor Dies at 76
J. Walter Wood, 76, industrialist and former Niles mayor, died at 8:22 p.m. Friday at Pawating Hospital after an illness of two years and four months. He resided at 811 Topinabee Road.
After graduation from the University of Michigan engineering School in 1900, he founded the Niles Steel Tank Co. here and services as president of the firm 50 years. His sons now operate the company.
His long record of public service included 25 years on the Niles Board of Education.
Survivors are his widow, Alta; two sons, L. Reynald Wood and Jerome W. Wood, both of Niles; four grandchildren, and a brother, Floyd Wood, also of Niles.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the Presbyterian Church with the Rev. T.M. Greenhoe, officiating. Burial will be at Silverbrook Cemetery. The family has requested that flowers by omitted.
Born Sept. 9, 1878 at Sumnerville, he had been a resident of the Niles community all his life. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Wood was elected mayor in 1916 by City Council after the death of his father, Lucian Wood. At the time he was servicing his fourth term as Second Ward Alderman. Jerome Wood service tow terms as mayor after World War II, making three generations of the family who have headed the city administration.
In 1947, Wood retired after serving 25 consecutive years as a member of the Niles Board of Education.
He was first elected Second Ward alderman in 1910. From 1903 to 1905 be served as a member of the Board of Public Works. Other service to the city includes 16 years as a member of the Park Board and four years as member of the Welfare Board.
A director of the old state Bank of Niles, he later became a director of the First National bank and continued in that position until his death. He served on the Berrien County Road Commission and was a director of the McCormick Theological Seminary at Chicago.
A 33rd degree Mason, Wood was a member of the St. Joseph Valley Lodge No 4, F & AM, and the Red cross of Constantine, Masonic order.
He was a past president of the Niles Rotary Club and past district governor of Rotary International.