In 1952, Wood began his broadcasting career at
WDZ, a commercial
radio station in
Decatur, Illinois, soon after graduating from Purdue. He then joined
WSBT, radio and TV broadcaster, in
South Bend, Indiana, in 1953. Wood joined the staff of
CBS News as a national correspondent. He covered the
Civil Rights Movement for CBS News, including one of the
marches with
Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of the CBS reporters who covered President
John F. Kennedy's visit to
Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, on the day of
Kennedy's assassination. Wood had covered Kennedy's morning speech in
Fort Worth, Texas. Outside of reporting, Wood had taken a personal
photograph of President Kennedy greeting supporters shortly before Kennedy left for the Dallas
motorcade. Wood later learned that President Kennedy had been shot while speaking with CBS colleague
Dan Rather during a brief phone conversation. Rather had interrupted the conversation saying, "Hold On Lew — don’t go away" before telling Wood that Kennedy had been shot. Rather told Wood to go the Dallas hospital where Kennedy had been taken, which he did. Lew Wood also worked as a
news anchor for
WNBC, the
New York City flagship station of NBC. In 1975, NBC hired Wood as the news anchor for its morning
Today Show, succeeding longtime anchor,
Frank Blair. Wood became only the third news anchor in the show's history. He anchored the news portion of the show opposite ''Today's
other three on-air personalities: Barbara Walters, Jim Hartz and Gene Shalit. Wood remained at Today
for just one year. He left the show in 1976 after the Today Show'''s producers decided to shake up the show and take it in a new direction. For his part, Wood had joked that "he left the Today show, it was due to illness and fatigue. They were sick and tired of him." He was succeeded by
Chicago newsman
Floyd Kalber. Wood moved from television to
public relations after leaving the
Today Show. He trained business executives from
Fortune 500 corporations in
public relations techniques to deal with the
media. He also served as the
American Legion's National Director of Public Relations. Wood retired in 2006. ==Death ==