A lawyer by profession, Wood immediately contacted Harris and began to correspond with him about the possibility of forming a club in San Francisco. The result is now Rotary Global History. In November 1908, Wood was the prime organizer of the world's second Rotary club, thereby earning himself an honoured place in the annals of Rotary. The importance of the occasion was highlighted by the engagement of a well known American industrialist, Charles M. Schwab, as the principal speaker.

Wood went on to found the third Rotary club in nearly Oakland in 1909; assisted, with the aid of Arthur Holman and Roy Denny, in the formation of the fourth club in Seattle; and, with his brother Walton Wood and Jerry Muma, formed the fifth club in Los Angeles.

Wood was one of the grand old men of Rotary. He became President of his own beloved San Francisco club in 1910, and in that year served on a commission to call the First Rotary Convention in Chicago. Wood lived on to service the Movement for sixty eight more years, and when he died in July 1976 at he age of ninety-five, he had contributed immeasurably to Rotary's development.