John William Woods

John W Woods, 81, passed away peacefully on December 11th at Summerlin Hospital with his wife at his side and her sister and brother in law. He knew he was loved. The battle with COPD overcame his body in the end, but not his spirit. John was born August 18, 1935 in Queens, NY.

John started his journey in Queens, NY and joined the Navy at 17 years old. After his service, he moved to the Boston, MA and CT areas and operated several Friendly’s Restaurants. This move to New England was when he became a loyal and life- long Red Sox fan. He even had his Red Sox shirt on during his final day. Loyal to the end. John moved to Las Vegas in the mid 1960’s with Mr Donut. He worked for First Western Savings & Loan selling foreclosed properties and received his real estate license in 1968 and then his Broker’s License.

He sold new homes at Heritage Square South and Durable Homes and so many more subdivisions. John and Karen Selland opened Sellwood Realty as partners for 9 years. John Served on the GLVAR Board of Directors for many years, served as Treasurer, Dean of Faculty and Education Chair for NVAR for several years. His love was commercial real estate and Exchanges, teaching many classes, one called Bridging the Gap Between Residential and Commercial Real Estate. John returned to the real estate field on the business side and worked with Realty Executives of Nevada for 15 years until he retired 2 ½ years ago. He loved talking to real estate agents and recruiting and helping guide their career and loved the time there.

John was an avid skier, tennis player and loved golfing with his friends. Judie and John loved to travel and cruise, So much time spent in Laguna Beach, Lake Tahoe, but their passion was spending time in NYC and Italy and enjoyed a lovely trip to Tuscany a year ago. John loved his poodles and has rejoined his Brandee, Remee and Kandee. Little Bailee is missing her Dad.

John was preceded in death by his parents, John and Helen Woods, his son, Tom Woods, and daughter, Brenda Woods. John is survived by his wife of 35 years, Judie; son, Mitch (Cindy) Woods; daughter, Janice Martin; brother, William (Patti) Woods; grandchildren, Justin Woods, Ryan Woods, Christine (Ryan) Nichols, and Sarah (Cameron) Flournoy; and sister-in-law, Kathie (Pete) Castro.

John loved his children, having lost Brenda in 2007 and Tom in 2013. His joy has been spending time with his close friends, enjoying eggplant parm lunches with his friends, watching the Red Sox and his NY Giants.

The loss of John will leave a tremendous void in our life, but is filled with the warmth and glow of his love and our memories which will last a life time. We are grateful he was part of our life.

Memorial service will be held on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017 beginning at 10:30am at Palm Northwest Mortuary, 6701 N. Jones Blvd., 89131. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in John's name to PETA, The Las Vegas Humane Society, or the American Cancer Society.