Businessman. A graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, he was achieved the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Army. In 1924 he became vice-president and in 1928 president of Sears, Roebuck, a small rural mail-order company that soon became one of the great retail stores of the world.. He retired in 1954 but remained director until 1968. He also founded Allstate Insurance Inc.  Family links:  Parents:  Robert Whitney Wood (1837 – 1907)  Lillie Collins Wood (1854 – 1933)  Spouse:  Mary Butler Hardwick Wood (1881 – 1984)*  Children:  Frances Elkington Wood Fentress (1910 – 1996)*  Sarah Stires Addington Wood Armour (1912 – 2010)*  Robert Whitney Wood (1913 – 1989)*  Mary Stovall Wood Neuhaus (1917 – 1978)*  Siblings:  Robert Elkington Wood (1879 – 1969)  Julia Francis Wood (1880 – 1935)*  Leslie Gould Wood (1885 – 1886)*  Stanley Willis Wood (1887 – 1916)*  Edward Collins Wood (1888 – 1951)* *Calculated relationship