Dr. William P. Hood, Jr.

Ward Wilson Funeral Home and Crematory

Viewed: 1987

Posted by: Ward Wilson
Date: Jan 22 2024 3:49 PM

Dr. William P. Hood, Jr. died on Sunday, January 21, 2024 at the age of 89. His ashes are to be interred in the arms of his parents in Hickory Grove, SC. A memorial service will be held at the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Dothan, AL at 4 PM, Thursday, January 25, 2024. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Respite Care Ministry, FUMC Dothan, 1380 W Main Street, Dothan, AL  36301.

A native of South Carolina, Dr. Hood graduated from Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). He was commissioned in the U. S. Army and after internship was called to active duty. Following a two-year stint in the military service, which included 13 months in Korea, he completed residency training in internal medicine at MUSC and fellowship training in cardiology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill, becoming a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Cardiology. He joined the UNC faculty for two years before being recruited to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he remained for 15 years, engaging in practice, teaching and research, and reaching the rank of Professor. On two sabbatical leaves, in 1977 and again in 1984, he was Visting Professor at the Medical University, Hanover, Germany. In 1985, he left academic medicine to be a full-time practitioner in Dothan, Alabama, and to introduce performance of coronary angioplasty to the region. For many years, Dr. Hood was active in the major professional society representing cardiologists, The American College of Cardiology, serving as Chairman of the Board of Governors and as a Trustee. He retired from cardiology at the end of 1999.

At that time, a previous avocation, collecting flatware, became his new “vocation.” His special flatware interests included American nineteenth-century silver flatware, especially by Tiffany & Co., and contemporary flatware, including in stainless steel by prominent designers. Having received permission to do research in the Tiffany Archives on multiple occasions, Dr. Hood became a principal author, with Roslyn Berlin and Edward Wawrynek, of Tiffany Silver Flatware, 1845-1905: When Dining Was an Art, published by Antique Collectors’ Club in 2000 and reprinted in 2003. This book is now recognized as the definitive work on Tiffany flatware. Dr. Hood also did research in the Gorham Archives at Brown University in Providence, RI. He lectured widely in the United States and also in Canada and Germany. His collection of antique flatware was exhibited in a major New York gallery and in several museums across the South. An exhibit from his collection of contemporary flatware opened in August 2011 at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Museum of Art at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, and traveled to three museum venues in Alabama in 2012 and 2013. He authored/co-authored some sixty articles on flatware in publications including Silver Magazine, The Magazine Antiques, and Silver Studies. In late 2018 he completed with Phil Dreis his second book – Flatware That’s Not “Flat”: Design and Production of Innovative Table Cutlery, 1890-2015.

Dr. Hood was active in the affairs of the Wiregrass Museum of Art, serving as President of the Board three times and as board member several times. As a fan of contemporary art, he donated numerous works on paper to the museum, including twelve by Frank Stella, representing the largest collection of this artist’s prints in the state of Alabama.

Dr. Hood was also active in the FUMC of Dothan, as a member of the Progressors’ Sunday School Class and as a player in the Westminster Handbells for more than 20 years. He served for several years as a volunteer in the Respite Care Ministry, playing the piano accompanying singing every other week.

Dr. Hood was predeceased by his parents, William P. Hood, Sr. and Mary Louise Martin Hood. He is survived by several cousins in the Carolinas, Florida, and Texas, a special friend, Susie Douglas of Dothan, and a beloved caregiver, Tonya Sampson of Ashford.

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