Biographies

Harold F. Wood

Name:
Harold F. Wood

Born:
January 1, 1899

Joined AGB:
1929

Primary Dept/Div:
Credit

Primary Office:
Chicago

Harold (Woodie) F. Wood joined Becker in 1929 in time to be a first hand witness to the great stock market crash in October of that year. Woody was part of the early “Analytical and Statistical” Department probably started by David Friday in the late 1920s. Woodie may have been hired to carry forward Friday’s proposals and his own micro-economic work. Also, this was the beginning of company investment research and Woodie had an accounting background to apply to that work. By the 1950s, when John Colman joined the firm, Woodie’s work became more oriented to participating in the due diligence process by analyzing audits and raising and recording questions and answers as an important step of that process. Woodie’s work began also to be part of approving new commercial paper issuers and the analysis of a company’s credit for private placement work. As the years passed, Woodie’s department became the foundation for the firms’ credit department, policies, and committee functions. Woodie retired in the 1960s and passed away in 1973.

Obituary:
Chicago Tribune. Nov 26, 1973. Harold F. Wood, 74, of 67 No Brainard Av., La Grange, died yesterday in his home. He was a retired vice president of A.G. Becker & Co., a Loop investment firm. He was survived by his widow, Lucile, a daughter, and three grandchildren. Services in La Grange.

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