Joe died March 6, 2022, after battling prostate cancer. 

He grew up in Alabama, moved to Baltimore in 1959, and graduated from the McDonogh School in 1963. A member of the National Honor Society and the Cum Laude Society, Joe won a National Merit Scholarship. At Princeton, Joe majored in electrical engineering, roomed at 1903 Hall with Charles Lazer and Ted Todd, belonged to the Amateur Radio Society, was a three-year member of WPRB, and ate at Key and Seal. 

After graduation, Joe moved west to Berkeley, earning an MSEE in 1969. From 1969 to 1972, he served in the Army. In 1972, he joined Bell Labs. Not long after, Ted Todd introduced Joe to a colleague from Ted’s office, Susan Mapes. They married in 1973 and lived in Cranbury, N.J., for 23 years and had two sons, Joseph Wood IV and Timothy. Tragically, Susan died of breast cancer in 1996. 

Ted Todd again played matchmaker and Joe married Laura Triest, Ted’s cousin, in 1998. The couple had a daughter, Natalie. 

Joe moved to Laura’s home in Annapolis, Maryland, to work for the federal sales office of the Aspect Communications Corporation located in Greenbelt. Their home on the Delaware shore of the Chesapeake Bay allowed time on his 37-foot boat and Joe joined the Annapolis Yacht Club and earned a Coast Guard Captain’s license. He is survived by Laura and three children.