Ex-Henderson councilman Wood dies

Monday, Nov. 1, 2004 | 9:36 a.m.

David Wood, a one-term Henderson City Councilman who addressed growth issues and fought against the development of neighborhood casinos, died Oct. 25 of pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

Services were private for Wood, who served as Ward 4 councilman from 1995 to 1999 and ran unsuccessfully for Henderson mayor in the middle of his term.

As a council member, Wood voted with the majority to defeat two neighborhood casino projects because he said they did not fit the makeup of the area. He pushed for tougher ordinances that would limit casino development to large parcels of land and, thus, most likely away from neighborhoods.

Wood also served as chairman of the Regional Transportation Commission's fixed guideway subcommittee, which helped pave the way for the monorail system.

In the spring of 2000, Wood, then a lobbyist who had just opened his consulting firm, approached city of Henderson staffers with a plan for a new redevelopment area.

The move was criticized because Wood had only left the City Council 10 months previously, opting not to seek a second term, and the city did not have an ethics rule to prevent him from lobbying those who used to report to him.

Wood, a former Henderson planning commissioner, was outspent 8-to-1 during the 1995 Ward 4 primary race against incumbent councilman Larry Scheffler and Claire MacDonald. Wood won the primary with 38.5 percent of the vote and defeated Scheffler again in the general run-off.

In 1997, Wood ran for mayor against current Mayor Jim Gibson.

Wood, a Navy veteran of Vietnam, was first vice president of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce board of directors, a member of the Regional Flood Control Board and president of the River Mountain Home Owners Association.

Friends say donations can be made in David Wood's memory to Opportunity Village.