Hoosier and Harvard

James Baxter Wood, 75, West Suburban Developer

Article September 16, 1996, by Graeme Zielinski, from Chicago Tribune

In finding the hours for his many civic and business activities, James Baxter Wood exhibited his penchant for planning, a talent he used during his successful career as a land developer in the western suburbs. A longtime resident of River Forest, Mr. Wood, 75, died Saturday while preparing for a round of golf.

In addition to his work as founder and president of Equity Builders of Illinois, a developer of residential communities, Mr. Wood served in leadership positions for numerous civic groups and businesses.

"He was a perfect combination of Hoosier and Harvard," said his wife, Dorothy Deist Wood. "He felt it an essential part of his life to plan for his future."

Mr. Wood was reared in Terre Haute, Ind., before graduating from Indiana University and serving in India during World War II. After receiving a graduate degree in business at Harvard University, he came to Chicago to work as an economist at the Northern Trust Co. Equity Builders, which Mr. Wood founded in the 1960s as a branch of his father-in-law's business, has built thousands of homes in smaller-scale developments in such communities as Algonquin and Crystal Lake.

Mr. Wood also was founder of the Dunham Bank of St. Charles, a director of St. Paul Federal Bank, and president of the Northern Illinois Home Builders Association. Just as numerous were his civic functions. He was a trustee of the West Suburban Hospital of Oak Park; president during the late 1960s of the Oak Park-River Forest High School Board of Education; director of the Oak Park and River Forest Community Association; and president of the Chicago Tennis Association.

"People respected his judgment and his knowledge," said a longtime friend, Dick Meyer. "When he spoke up on a given problem, why, people listened."

Besides Mr. Wood's wife, other survivors include four daughters, Jane Braley, Lucy Traeger, Priscilla Sorensen and Elizabeth Dunlevie; four stepsons, Robert Deist, John Deist, Thomas Deist and William Deist; and 18 grandchildren.