Harry D. Wood Jr., a Malibu resident of 24 years, died in Talent, Oregon Nov. 7. He was 97.
Wood was born in Rockaway, N.J. on Oct. 24, 1913. He was adopted by Harry D. and Clara H. Wood as a baby and did not learn he was adopted until the 1990s.
Wood grew up in Montclair, N.J. where he attended George Inness School and Montclair High School. He went to work early due to the Depression and graduated from Barringer Evening High School in Newark in 1932. Wood then worked his way through law school at New York University.
Wood and his wife Harriet moved to California in 1953. He worked for insurance brokerage firm Johnson & Higgins in San Francisco and Los Angeles. By 1960, he and his family had moved to Malibu. Wood and his family lived on Galahad Drive on a property with enough room for their horses.
Wood retired in 1978 and moved to Mariposa, Calif. in 1984. During retirement, he enjoyed many activities such as reading, listening to classical music and keeping up on current events.
In 1994 Wood and his wife moved to Talent, Ore. to live with their son, where Harriet died in 1996.
Wood is survived by his children: Donica Wood, Kendra Louks and Harry D. Wood III; his grandchildren Devin R. Reyes and William H. Louks; his half-brother Robert Hoagland; and nieces Kim Heilig and Karin Wren.
Services took place in Ashland, Ore.