Lawrence E. Wood

Lawrence E. Wood, known to his friends as “Larry,” died August 21, 2025 at Crosslands in Kennett Square. He was the son of the late Harold K. Wood and Kathryn Eyre Smith Wood. 

Larry was born in West Chester, PA in 1936.  He went to public school in West Chester and Chadds Ford, and in his tenth-grade year entered St. Andrew’s School, a boarding school in Middletown Delaware.  At St. Andrews, Larry participated in football, basketball and baseball and achieved scholarly distinction, graduating at the top of his class.  He then went to Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, where he played on the soccer team and continued to achieve scholastic success.  He graduated summa cum laude and was awarded entrance to the local chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

Larry then attended Penn Law School, where he became an editor on the Law Review staff.  He graduated from Penn as a member of the order of the Coif, an honor granted to the top ten percent of the graduating class.  While in Law school, Larry began dating his future wife, Mary Reynolds (Renny) Parke, and the two were married on June 9, 1962.

Following graduation from Law School, Larry entered the U. S. Navy and was assigned to Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.  When he finished his training there, he was assigned to the Military Justice School, and then to the Navy legal office for the First Naval District in Boston, Massachusetts. Toward the end of his tour of duty, he was reassigned to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, as Legal Officer.

Upon completion of his tour of duty, Larry and Renny moved back to West Chester, PA, and Larry commenced life as an attorney at law. One of his partners was his brother-in-law, Tom Parke, in the firm of Wood, Parke, & Barnes.  He served in both the District Attorney’s office and the Public Defender’s office.  In the 1970’s, he was one of the leaders of a reform group known as “The Independent Republicans,” during which time he was elected to two terms as Controller of Chester County.   He later published a book called “The Independent Years” which recounts the activities of that movement and highlights some of the successful reforms that were adopted by the Chester County Republican Party.   

In 1980, he was appointed to the Chester County bench, where he served as a judge for 26 years. Following his retirement, he returned to the practice of law with his former law firm, which then became Parke, Barnes, Spangler and Wood. During this time, Larry worked hard to free a prisoner, James Kelly, who was wrongly accused and sentenced to life in prison.  With the help of the Innocence Project, a Philadelphia judge overturned Kelly’s conviction and withdrew all charges. James was released in July of 2024.  In Larry’s final years of practice, he and his partner Pete Barnes joined the law firm of Klein, Head, Barnes and Wood. 

Larry played rugby for many years, forming lifelong friendships as a result. He also enjoyed singing, and was in various church choirs, community singing groups, and, for 20 years, a member of the chorus of OperaDelaware.

In 2016, he and Renny moved from their Chadds Ford home of many years and took up residence at Crosslands Retirement Community near Kennett Square, where he lived until his death.

He is survived by his wife, Mary P. (Renny) Wood and two children, Lawrence E. Wood, Jr. (Woody) and his wife Risa Whitson, and daughter Rebecca Wood Drinkard (Becky) and her husband Bill Drinkard, as well as grandchildren: Aviva Rose Wood, Chester Lawrence Wood, Marissa Walsh Turner and her husband Alex, and Matthew Robert Walsh. Larry is also survived by his sister Martha Wood Wilson and preceded in death by his two younger brothers, Harold Kenneth Wood and William S. Wood II

Relatives and friends are invited to his Memorial Service on Saturday, October 11, 2025 at 11:00 am at Church of the Loving Shepherd 1066 S. New Street West Chester, PA 19382.

Interment will be private. 

In lieu of flowers, Larry requested that donations be made to Friendship House in Wilmington, Delaware where Larry served as a volunteer for many years.