Leonard James Wood, beloved husband of Pierrette Therese Wood, passed away at Mercy San Juan hospital in Carmichael, California on March 6, 2017, after suffering a second stroke. 
   He is survived by four children, Clifford Wood of San Carlos, California, Jennifer Noble of Orangevale, California, Brian Wood of Bend, Oregon, Cindy Hodson of Loomis, California; his nine grand- children, and 12 great- grandchildren.            
   Mr. Wood was born June 3, 1928 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He started working as a messenger for Western Union at the age of 13.  He eventually became the General Manager of the Western Union office in Montreal.  In 1966 he was tasked with opening offices in the United States for a newly formed company named Western Union International.  He then moved his family to California in 1966 to personally manage the office in San Francisco.  He was instrumental in setting up the first satellite broadcast for the recovery of the Apollo 8 mission aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown in December of 1968.  Because of the success of the Apollo 8 mission broadcast, one year later he was asked to present the first international color broadcast, aboard the U.S.S Hornet, of the splashdown of the Apollo 11 mission to place a man on the moon.  Upon his retirement from Western Union International he started his own company named Syscom, which became very successful.  He was very active athletically.  He loved playing tennis, ice hockey, skating, skiing, and enjoyed camping with family.   He acquired his pilot’s license and piloted his own Cessna airplane.  He then authored and published a book which contained maps of all the airports in Russia.  
   A celebration of his life will be held by the family in the Fall.  If you wish, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of your choice.

Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Wednesday, April 5, 2017