Around Town: Aug. 21

Condolences

Lyman Phillips (Phil) Wood Jr. passed away in Middlebury, Vermont, on Thursday, July 31, 2025. He was born in Stamford, Conn., on Feb. 6, 1940, the son of Lyman and Mary Poling Wood. Sister Nancy arrived two years later.

They spent most summers near family at Cedar Beach in Charlotte, where Phil made many friends playing tennis, swimming, fishing and boating. In 1951, the family left Connecticut for a year-round home in Charlotte. Phil was in the sixth grade, and he was not pleased to learn that softball was played rather than baseball, but on his very first day of school he learned it didn’t matter when he encountered a sturdy fifth grader named Sky Thurber, who pitched “too swift.”

Phil graduated from Charlotte Central School in 1954, Vermont Academy in 1958 and then joined the Army, spending two years in Germany. On one of his leaves, he ate a meal at a small inn in the middle of the French countryside and thought to himself, “If the food is this good here, this is the country I want to live in.”

He married Ellie Bostwick in 1964 and attended Yale University and St. John’s College, graduating from Yale in 1968. This was the same graduating class as George W. Bush, who held a class reunion at the White House when he was president. Daughter Treva was born in Maryland and son Mike in Connecticut. The family moved to San Francisco in 1969.

Phil explored many different career paths: he considered attending law school after getting into Yale, Stanford and Berkeley, worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, studied photography and cabinet making, worked at a tech company and a small publisher. Then in 1996, after he and Ellie divorced, he moved to Paris and opened the San Francisco Book Co., and later, Berkeley Books of Paris — both used, English-language bookstores. He was a bookseller for the remainder of his working years. He married his second wife, Anouck Malaquin, in 1999.

Phil was a seeker with a thirst for a deeper understanding of himself and the world around him. In 1973, he found a way that offered what he was looking for in the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. He was an active member of the Gurdjieff Foundation through his years in San Francisco and then continued with the Institut Gurdjieff in Paris. Working with the most senior and respected members in Paris and Holland, he assisted with the translation of important texts. Phil’s love of music was also nurtured by this affiliation as he participated in a choral group and advanced his piano studies.

Phil was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease around 2006 and moved back to the U.S. to The Residence at Otter Creek in Middlebury, in 2023, to be closer to family. He died of complications following a stroke.

He is survived by Treva and husband Bob, Mike, Ellie, Anouck, his grandchildren, Jason, Ben and Lila Burger, step-son Laurent Larrera, nephew Andrew Thurber of Charlotte and step-granddaughter Pénélope, Nancy, Sky, his former brother-in-law and good friend at the end of his life, nieces, nephews and many friends.

The family wishes to thank everyone at The Residence at Otter Creek for all they did to make Phil’s last two years great, and the staffs at the University of Vermont Medical Center and Porter Medical Center for their care, kindness and support during his final month.

A memorial service will be held at The Residence at Otter Creek on Aug. 12 at 4 p.m. Burial will be private.

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