2020 -- H 8188

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LC005575

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF W. EDWARD WOOD

     Introduced By: Representatives Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Filippi, Kennedy, and Lima

     Date Introduced: December 14, 2020

     Referred To: Placed on the House Consent Calendar

     WHEREAS, Ed Wood, a distinguished public servant who served our state with

distinction as Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and

Department of Transportation, passed away on September 15, 2020. He was a resident of

Hopkinton; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wood was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, and raised in the

Detroit Metropolitan area. He attained a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the

University of Michigan, and upon graduation in 1962, he joined the United States Marine Corps

and served our nation with courage and integrity as a Captain for thirteen months in Vietnam; and

     WHEREAS, After completing his military service, Mr. Wood returned to the University

of Michigan and earned a Master’s degree in Japanese Studies. He proceeded to become a

newspaper reporter, starting with the Associated Press in Indiana where he covered the civil

rights movement before taking a position with the Providence Journal; and

     WHEREAS, In 1975, Mr. Wood began his exemplary public service career as the

Assistant Director of the Public Utilities Commission. Two years later, he joined the Department

of Natural Resources where he played a vital role and earned plaudits for transforming a once

troubled department into a new, more vigorous environmental agency; and

     WHEREAS, In 1977, Mr. Wood was appointed to the position of Director of the Rhode

Island Department of Environmental Management by Governor Garrahy, a position he held for

five years before being appointed Director of the Department of Transportation. He played a

leading role in moving the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck rivers, and helping to remake

downtown Providence; and

     WHEREAS, Thanks to his tireless work ethic, strong leadership abilities, and diverse

array of skills, Mr. Wood also served in a panoply of other vital positions. He served as Governor

Sundlun’s Chief of Staff in the early 1990s, as the head of a cable television company in the

Midwest, and as a consultant to Ira Magaziner. In 2001, he was tapped to lead all operations for

the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a position he held for a decade and during which time,

numerous offices were opened across the continent of Africa savings thousands of lives; and

     WHEREAS, Since his retirement in 2011, Mr. Wood remained active in civic affairs,

particularly with the Hopkinton Land Trust and the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association,

which he founded. He also loved to travel and had visited every state but North Dakota, as well

as more than seventy-five countries; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Wood was the loving husband of Linda Wood for fifty-seven years, the

father of Erika and Dan, the grandfather of Kiles, Ayah and Kamil, and the brother of William

Wood; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

expresses its deepest condolences to the Wood Family on the passing of Ed Wood; and be it

further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Linda Wood and Family.

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