Phil Wood

Phil Wood Founder of Ten Speed Press, entrepreneur, and Asian art collector, passed away at his Nob Hill San Francisco home on Saturday December 11th. A private cremation service attended by family and friends was held at the Wood Lawn Memorial Park on Monday, December 20, 2010. Phil's love affair with the book business began in the late sixties as a salesman for Penguin, criss-crossing the country in a station wagon laden with paperbacks. In 1971, he produced his first "trade" paperback, Anybody's Bike Book, and named his fledging enterprise Ten Speed Press. From this modest, unheralded launch, a legacy of landmarks in independent publishing followed. The perennial bestseller What Color Is Your Parachute is going strong after nearly forty years. Ten Speed's formidable cookbook program, led by the convention-breaking classic Moosewood Cookbook, has produced scores of cookbooks featuring the most celebrated and creative chefs throughout the country, and accumulating many James Beard and IACP Awards. For 38 years Phil Wood ran Ten Speed Press with a decidedly quirky but unwavering sensibility that whatever he enjoyed reading, others would, too. He often noted it was the best job to have because he was surrounded by people with ideas they wanted to share. Phil adopted the philosophy of seeking to publish the best book on a subject. He admired authors with fresh ideas that have demonstrated success in the real world; and matched their efforts with providing a high level of editorial and design support at Ten Speed so that the process of transforming ideas into high quality books would be fun. Thus, from a bicycle repair manual, Ten Speed Press grew into a major independent house with an always fresh, eclectic style. In 2009, Ten Speed was purchased by Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc. Phil retired with the title of Publisher Emeritus. Phil's passion for Asian art was nurtured by his parents Corlyn and Ruth Wood in La Crescenta, California, at an early age. His Uncle Vernon Wood's tales of travels as a stow-away to China and admiration of Ming Chinese furniture were formative influences. While a student at University of California, Berkeley, Phil had a job projecting slides for art history classes. His life-long appreciation of South Asian art stemmed from hearing lectures given by Professor Otto Maenchen; in whose memory Phil has endowed a Chair in Asian Art History. Phil is survived by his wife Winifred Yen Wood, brother Donald Scribner Wood, and son Scott Cinnamond; cousins Timothy Wood, Beverly Wood Freeman, Laurel Wood Tyner; two grandchildren, Westin and Sonya, and numerous second cousins. A memorial celebrating Phil Wood's life will be held in the spring. Friends and colleagues are invited to share their stories and reminiscences of Phil in the memory book established on Legacy.com.