Background
Wood was born in Peterborough, Ontario to an Irish father (John West Wood) and a Scottish mother (Jane Porter).
Wood was born in Peterborough, Ontario to an Irish father (John West Wood) and a Scottish mother (Jane Porter).
In his early teens, Edward Wood joined the G.N.W. Telegraph Company owned by Peterborough"s Mayor George Albertus Cox and later Senator George Albertus Cox. After completing school Edward joined Cox"s financial firm, Central Canada Loan & Savings Company. Both men incorporated in 1898 the National Trust Company in Toronto, Ontario.
National Trust became part of Bank of Nova Scotia as Scotia Trust in 1997.
In 1901 Cox and Wood formed Dominion Securities (now part of the Royal Bank of Canada) with the purpose of underwriting and retailing of provincial, municipal, and utility securities. In 1902 Edward Wood shifted Dominion Securities into industrial finance by financing of Dominion Iron & Steel and Dominion Coal.
He was at that time a leading financier and also became active in philanthropy as well as in volunteer endeavors for the University of Toronto, Toronto General Hospital, Art Gallery of Ontario and the Young Men’s Christian Association.
He donated Wymilwood. An Elizabethan-style mansion now called Falconer Hall to the University of Toronto and is now part of the UofT law school.
In 1924 he moved to Glendon Hall on Bayview Avenue, property adjoining his 20 year younger brother Frank P Wood.
His widow, Euphemia, presented Glendon Hall to the University of Toronto in 1950. He died in Toronto in 1941, and is buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, adjacent to the grave of George Albertus Cox.