Robert S. & Dixie L. Wood
President Robert S. Wood became the President of the Boston Temple on 1 November 2009, having served for over ten years as a General Authority and member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was previously a member of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy, serving as an Area Seventy in the North America Northeast Area. As a General Authority, he served as President of the Utah North and Brazil North Areas and at Church Headquarters assisted in the Area Committee, Public Affairs, and the Worldwide Leadership Training Broadcasts.
He had previously served twice as bishop and as stake president and regional representative. He has also served on several high councils, as ward and stake Young Men’s president, and Sunday School instructor. He was a missionary in the French Mission for two and a half years. In addition to many books and articles over the years, he is the author of The Complete Christian (Deseret Book, 2007).
A native of Idaho, President Wood grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and graduated from Idaho Falls High School. He later married Dixie Leigh Jones of Palo Alto, California. Dixie graduated from Stanford University in Modern European Literature. They are the parents of four married daughters and have thirteen grandchildren. They currently reside in Belmont, Massachusetts. Sister Wood has served twice as a ward Relief Society president, Young Women’s president, and Primary president, seminary teacher, and counselor in the stake Relief Society presidency. She is currently serving as Matron of the Boston Temple.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate in History with Highest Distinction from Stanford University, President Wood earned his A.M. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. He taught at Harvard University and Bentley College and was a professor in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. He served in the Netherlands as Fulbright-Hays Senior Professor at the University of Groningen Law School and at the University of Tilburg Department of Political Economy. President Wood served at the U.S. Naval War College as Chairman of the Department of Policy and Strategy and as Dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies. He held the Chester W. Nimitz Chair of National Security and Foreign Affairs and twice served as Director of the Chief of Naval Operations´ Strategic Studies Group He regularly provided advice to the White House, the Congress, and the Department of Defense.
