Robert William Wood Jr., M.D.

Robert William "Bob" Wood, Jr., M.D., went to be with the Lord on February 4, 2022, in Austin, Texas. He was born in Virden, Illinois on January 10, 1931, to Mary Peters and Robert William Wood. Dr. Wood was a world-renowned plastic surgeon who also had an amazing bass voice. Bob was Valedictorian of his graduating class at Virden High School. He went on to attend The University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana campus on a full scholarship. Upon graduation he was accepted at The University of Illinois Medical School in Chicago where he received his medical degree.

After medical school Dr. Wood enlisted in the U. S. Air Force and eventually was stationed at the Bergstrom Strategic Air Command Base in Austin, Texas, where he pursued specialization in Obstetrics and Gynecology. While stationed in Austin during 1957, he met his future wife, Sarah (Sally) Lee Norman. They soon married and had their first child in 1958, his name’s sake, Robert William Wood, III. Dr. Wood changed his specialization to plastic surgery and was reassigned to Fort Hood to continue his training with Baylor College of Medicine and Scott and White Hospital in Temple. In 1960, Sally and Bob welcomed fraternal twins, James Norman Wood, and John Willard Guy Wood. Dr. Wood continued his training at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and completed it with a two-year plastic surgery residency with renowned plastic surgeons Drs. Jack Longacre and George DeStefano in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Wood then moved to Houston in the early 1960’s, starting his practice in the newly built medical center where he was the seventh plastic surgeon in town. He was on the clinical staff at The University of Texas and Baylor University medical schools. He participated in the development of Twin Oaks Hospital and Park Plaza Hospital. He was also Chief of Staff at Houston’s Diagnostic Hospital and worked often at Methodist and St. Luke’s Hospitals among others there. While pursuing his growing plastic surgery practice, he also treated patients at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston, Shriner’s Burn Clinic in Galveston and opened a satellite office in Nassau Bay.

Dr. Wood’s practice eventually focused on elective cosmetic surgery including breast lifts and augmentation and many other cosmetic surgical procedures. Dr. Wood also designed and patented the Wood Breast Implant, which used saline solution instead of silicone inside the silicone implant bag. Dr. Wood also worked with a plastic surgeon in Albuquerque, N.M. to bring the first liposuction machine to Houston.

Dr. Wood had an artistic side, singing as an impressive ‘basso profundo’ throughout his life in operas in Chicago, Dallas, Cincinnati, and Houston. Dr. Wood also sang in church choirs and choral groups, including at St. Matthews Episcopal Church and the historic Austin Saengerrunde singing club.

Dr. Wood is preceded in death by his wife, Sarah, his parents Robert and Mary Wood, his sisters Ethel and possibly Carol, and his sons John and James. He is survived by his dear sister and her husband, Sharon Wood Robinson (Phillips), his son Robert William Wood, III (Kathy), John’s widow, Laura Wood, and grandsons, Robert William Wood, IV (Lauren), Harrison Lee Wood (Elle), and John Jacob Mason Wood, his great-granddaughter Brooklyn Taylor Wood, and his nephew Phillips Jonathan Robinson.

The family would like to thank the caregivers at the Arbour Health Center at Westminster Manor for the many years of care Dr. Wood received there.

There will be visitation on Saturday, February 26, 2022 at Austin Memorial Park 2800 Hancock Dr. from 12 noon until the time of the funeral service at 1:00 p.m.