Born at Bath on 3 August 1869, the only son of Cyril J Wood, journalist, and his wife, *née* Candy. Educated at Bath and at the University of Bristol, his main interests were devoted at first to pathology but, influenced by F Richardson Cross, he soon turned to ophthalmology. He was appointed surgeon to the Southport Infirmary and to the Southport Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital. In 1900 he was elected surgeon to the Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital at Shrewsbury, where he did much good work, and made a reputation in Shropshire and Mid-Wales. When the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress was established in 1909 Russ Wood was a founder and an ardent supporter. He became its honorary secretary in 1928 and the master in 1935. He served as president of the Midland Ophthalmological Society and delivered the Middlemore lecture in 1927. He retired from practice at Shrewsbury in 1931, was elected assistant surgeon and pathologist to the Oxford Eye Hospital, and at the same time became lecturer in the Oxford postgraduate course in ophthalmology, and examiner in ophthalmology at the Queen's College, Belfast. In 1898 he married Fanny Mein (d. 1935), daughter of Dr Charles Steele, of Clifton, Bristol, and they had three daughters. He died at Iffley, Oxford, on 26 September 1938. He left £250 to the Shropshire Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital, Shrewsbury. Russ Wood was a man of many interests, a keen amateur actor, a great walker, and a good historian. Publications: Choroidal sclerosis. *Ophthalmoscope*, 1915, 13, 374. A note on the comparative values of artificial illuminants. *Trans Ophthal Soc UK* 1922, 42, 267.