Vale William (Bill) Wood

Many alumni would have fond memories of past interactions with William (Bill) Wood, a long-serving staff member of the school. Unfortunately, Bill passed away on 2 February 2024.

William (Bill) Wilber Wood  was born in London on January 31, 1931, and lived the first 16 years of his life there. His father was a physicist, working for the National Physics Laboratory, then designated an "essential service," so the family remained in London for the duration of the War.

Even as a youth Bill had a strong interest in Applied Mathematics, which he manifested during the war years by standing watch in their big oak tree and in his head plotting the trajectory of buzz bombs as they approached so that he could warn his mother and sister when they would need to get to the bomb shelter!

The family migrated to Melbourne in 1947, and Bill attended Melbourne High for just a few months before enrolling in Science at Melbourne University. After graduation he went to work at Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Fisherman's Bend, where he was offered a scholarship to undertake a PhD at Cambridge in 1953. After completing his doctorate there, he returned to Melbourne and took up a Readership at Melbourne University in 1957, where he remained until his retirement in 1994.

Apart from mathematics, Bill enjoyed being physically active. He had an exercise regime long before it was a fad. In his spare-time he loved gardening and travelling. In early years travelling was to national parks for camping, hiking and swimming. In later years he would return regularly to hike the European Alps and English countryside.

He was a quiet and private person who enjoyed the peace of his own home. A gentle Englishman. He is survived by wife Myra, daughters Jennifer, Hazel, Susan, Larissa, Alana, Olivia, 11 grand-children and 4 great grandchildren. Sadly predeceased by his only son John.