Robert Coldwell Wood

Robert Coldwell Wood (September 16, 1923 – April 1, 2005) was an American political scientist, administrator, and professor of political science at MIT. He led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the University of Massachusetts and the Boston Public Schools

The Politician life
Wood was born on September 16, 1923 in St Louis, Missouri, and won a scholarship to Princeton University, interrupting his studies during World War II to serve in the United States Army. Wood saw action during the Battle of the Bulge, won a Bronze Star, and rose to the rank of sergeant. After graduating from Princeton, Wood earned three degrees from Harvard: a master's in public administration and a master's and a doctorate in government.

The Office Housing and Urban Development
Wood taught political science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1959 to 1965. From 1965 to 1969, he was to served as Undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the resignation of Robert C. Weaver, and then later as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (for 13 days) in the cabinet of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Here he was involved in implementing the Model Cities program in 1966 and the Fair Housing Act in 1968.

He returned to MIT to teach and to direct the Joint Center for Urban Studies at MIT and Harvard. At the same time, he led the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). From 1970 to 1977 he served as president of the University of Massachusetts. While Wood served as president of the University of Massachusetts he led its expansion to include UMass Medical Center in Worcester and its Boston campus. He also played a key role in bringing the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum to its present site at Columbia Point, next to UMass-Boston. He also taught at Wesleyan University.

In 1968, Wood was awarded the Wiener Medal for Cybernetics from the American Society for Cybernetics.

The Personality
Wood left a wife, Margaret (Byers); a son, Frank of New York City; two daughters, Frances of Cambridge and Margaret Hassan of Exeter, N.H.; and two grandchildren.

Wood died in Boston, Massachusetts from stomach cancer on April 1, 2005, at the age of 81.

Work
Wood was an outstanding academic practitioner. He applied his research expertise to critical policy issues at the national and state levels and was a true builder of public higher education in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Though his major focus was on urban affairs and the design of cities, he also had a significant interest in the development of policies for science and technology and how those subjects affected American life.

Publications
Wood's best-known books are:
 * 1958. Suburbia: Its People and Their Politics
 * 1959. Metropolis against itself.
 * 1961. 1400 governments; the political economy of the New York metropolitan region. With Vladimir V. Almendinger.
 * 1972. The Necessary Majority: Middle America and the Urban Crisis
 * 1993. Whatever Possessed the President? Academic Experts and Presidential Policy, 1960-88.
 * 1995. Turnabout time : public higher education in the commonwealth. With Richard A. Hogarty and Aundrea E. Kelley.