Santa Cruz Sentinel

Local News

Subscribe

Winning election to the Santa Cruz school board two years ago was one of the high points in Dan Wood’s life. He looked forward to taking his commitment to school children one step further Wednesday, when he was expected to be elected president of the board.

Instead the 1988 Soquel High School graduate died Thursday of lung cancer. He was 32.

Friends, colleagues and family remembered him Friday as a generous and gracious man, who took life seriously enough to want to make a difference but also was able to enjoy himself along the way.

Trustee Donna Cohick joined the board at the same time as Wood. She said he brought "boundless energy and enthusiasm" to a job made difficult by the district’s financial problems. He thought the changes that needed to be made, including closing schools, could be an opportunity for improving the district, she said.

"He had youthful idealism, but he was very practical with finances," Cohick said. "He really believed things could be better. He really believed that all kids mattered, every single one, and he was a strong believer in society’s responsibility to kids."

Trustees said they also appreciated the perspective Wood brought from the business world. He worked in banking and was promoted to manager of the Washington Mutual Bank branch in Hollister about four years ago. Previously he worked at the Ocean Street branch.

Janet Vanzanen, manager of the Santa Cruz branch, said his integrity and upbeat outlook earned him the respect and admiration of co-workers and customers.

"He always seemed genuinely interested and concerned about you," she said. "He always made eye contact and always put a positive spin on everything. You just don’t meet people like that very often."

Woods thought public service was important, friends said. He coached in a youth soccer league for years though he had no children of his own. In high school, he volunteered to drive cancer patients to appointments, and in college he worked for a suicide hotline. He was involved in a program to raise funds for cancer research at work.

But he could have fun, too. Bill Maxfield met Wood when they were in the third grade, and they remained close friends.

"He loved to throw a party," Maxfield said. "You knew if you didn’t have anything planned for New Year’s Eve, call Dan."

His parties were enlivened by the games Wood would invent, and then try to win. He had a reputation as a fierce competitor. He played tennis, volleyball and backgammon. He enjoyed the board game so much, he took it along to chemotherapy appointments.

"He was hugely competitive," said brother David Wood. "If the score in a volleyball game went the wrong way, he was aggressively lobbying to get it cleared up. ... He beat many people (at backgammon), even under the duress of chemo."

Wood enjoyed running, taking part in the annual Bay-to-Breakers race in San Francisco and the local Wharf-to-Wharf race for at least 15 years. It was while running the San Francisco race for the last time in May that he noticed he had problems breathing, Maxfield said. About two weeks later, Wood, who never smoked, was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Wood approached the disease like any other contest, Maxfield said. He wasn’t going to let cancer stop him. He attended two forums on school closings in November, for example, though the only other times he left the house were for his chemotherapy.

Maxfield said Wood told him he was committed to the school board and going to the forums was his way of telling the cancer that it hadn’t won.

"He really meant to beat cancer," Maxfield said. "It’s sad he lost, but it clearly wasn’t a fair fight."

Contact Donna Jones at djones@santa-cruz.com.

Subscribe