Charles Dillon Woody ’57

Chuck was not only what he seemed to many. “He was an easy, quiet, happy-go-lucky guy,” one Princeton friend remarked. “A regular guy, low key but ‘with it,’ ” said another. Yet, Chuck graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, receiving in 1962 the Leon Resnick Prize granted to fourth-year medical students with exceptional achievements in research. He was a research fellow there who developed clinical electromyography, which he carried on to influence the careers of the next generation of neurologists.

Chuck entered Princeton at age 16 from Poly Prep High in New York City and enjoyed college life to the full. He was a member of the freshman crew whose shell The New York Times captured on film sinking into the Potomac during a race. He was an announcer for WPRU, a Tigertone, and a member of Whig-Clio and Campus Club. He roomed senior year with Chuck Bernheim, Jacques Read, and Don Wiesner.

Chuck taught at the UCLA medical school for much of his 60-year career, continuing research into stimulating parts of animal brains to provoke specific neural reactions. He wrote more than 90 scholarly articles and books including Memory Learning and Higher Function: A Cellular View in 1982, still considered a must-read for neurological scholars.

Chuck died Aug. 6, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Patricia; and two children. He and Pat were ardent supporters of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.