Bro. Robert D. Wood, S.M. died in the service of the Blessed Virgin on December 6, 2016 at the age of 89 and with 71 years of vowed life.

He was born in St. Louis on April 2, 1927, the son of Douglas Wood and Helen Keefe, and was the first graduate of Eugene Coyle High School in Kirkwood, MO, to enter the Marianists on August 15, 1945. He professed his perpetual vows on July 17, 1949. He received a B.S. in Education from the University of Dayton in 1948, and M.A. in History from the Catholic University of America in 1965, and a Ph. D. in History from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in 1967 and was a member of Phi Alpha Theta. He taught in Marianist high schools in Chicago and St. Louis; in St. Boniface, Canada where he was on a five-person committee to make the English exam for the whole Province of Manitoba; in Yokohama, Japan; in Lima, Peru; and in Apaseo el Grande in Mexico. He also taught in two universities: the Santa Maria Catholic University in Arequipa where he was Secretary General and Dean of Humanities and established an Institute of Pre-Columbian Studies which became a faculty of archeology, and was made Professor Emeritus. In San Antonio he spent 29 years at St. Mary's University teaching history and anthropology, and serving for 19 of those years as archivist and curator of Special Collections for which he received an award from the San Antonio Historical Society. He was one of the founders of the Society of Mary in Mexico, in Coatzacoalcos. He served for several years as the Secretary General of the Society of Mary in Rome. In his various assignments in addition to teaching he moderated and edited school papers and yearbooks, organized the Marian sodality, built three Lourdes grottos, started an award-winning drum and bugle corps, directed choral groups, and a guitar ensemble, coached a champion track and field team, directed plays, ran a bookstore, and in three places organized the school library. He did archeological work in Peru, Belize, and Rome. He was also a musician and composer, including three operettas. He was fluent in Spanish and translated numerus documents and several books, and interpreted at six General Chapters of the Society of Mary. He had over a dozen books published in addition to the seven booklets of documents from the Laredo archives for which he twice received the Webb County Heritage Award, and over 40 articles in various periodicals. He also received the San Antonio Conservation Society Book Award.

Bro. Wood is survived by his sister, Mary Jean Wood, M.D. and serval cousins.

FUNERAL SERVICES

Visitation will begin on Sunday, December 11, at 6:00 PM with the Rosary to be recited 7:00 PM at the Marianist Residence Chapel. Visitation will resume on Monday, December 12, at 9:00 AM with the Eucharist of Christian Burial offered at 10:00 AM at the Marianist Residence Chapel. Interment will follow in the Marianist Cemetery. There will be a reception and luncheon to follow.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Brother Robert Wood Scholarship Fund at St. Mary's University.