Bob Woodruff#Wounded in Iraq

Woodruff was born on August 18, 1961 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the son of Frances Ann (Dawson) and Robert Norman Woodruff Jr., real estate agents.[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/12/style/lee-mcconaughy-becomes-a-bride.html The New York Times wedding announcement]C.B.Kirkpatrick, Historian, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, MI.{{cite web |url=http://www.lynchfuneraldirectors.com/death_notice.aspx?Operation%3Dpreview%26noticeid%3D3379%26AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport%3D1 |title=Death Notice |access-date=January 22, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122070523/http://www.lynchfuneraldirectors.com/%28S%28kaofmo45ynmmlc4535fxxd55%29%29/death_notice.aspx?Operation=preview¬iceid=3379&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 |archive-date=January 22, 2015 }}

Woodruff graduated from the private Cranbrook Kingswood school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1979. He earned a B.A. in 1983 from Colgate University, where he played lacrosse—finishing his career with 184 points, second all-time at Colgate. Woodruff earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1987, and he is an alumnus of Theta Chi fraternity.{{cite web |url=http://www.newsmia.com/bob_woodruff/profile-38930.html |title=Bob Woodruff wiki |access-date=September 24, 2012}}

After graduating from law school, Woodruff worked as a bankruptcy associate at Shearman & Sterling, LLP in New York City.{{cite web |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/01/30/the-recovery-of-recovering-lawyer-bob-woodruff |title=The Recovery of Recovering Lawyer, Bob Woodruff |date=January 30, 2007 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal, USA}} In 1989, while Woodruff was teaching law in Beijing, China, CBS News hired him as an on-screen interpreter during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Shortly thereafter, he left the law practice and became a full-time correspondent, initially working for several local stations.

Woodruff began working for ABC News in 1996.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=127761|title=Bob Woodruff|author=ABC News|publisher=ABC News, USA|access-date=May 23, 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Author/Bob_Woodruff |title=ABC News Stories published by Bob Woodruff|date=January 30, 2017|publisher=ABC News, USA|access-date=January 30, 2017}} He succeeded Peter Jennings as a co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight in December 2005 with Elizabeth Vargas. In January 2006, Woodruff was critically wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

File:TV Correspondent Crusades for Brain-Injured Veterans.ogv

On January 29, 2006, Woodruff and Canadian cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured in an explosion from an improvised explosive device near Taji, Iraq, about {{convert|12|mi|km}} north of Baghdad.{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11086342|title=ABC's Bob Woodruff seriously injured in Iraq|work=NBC News|date=January 29, 2006}} Woodruff had traveled with an ABC News team to Israel to report on the aftermath of the 2006 Palestinian elections, and then via Amman, Jordan to Baghdad, so that he could meet with troops before President George W. Bush's State of the Union address for 2006.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/IraqCoverage/story?id=1555318|title=Reflections from the Woodruff Team in Baghdad|publisher=ABC News, USA|date=January 29, 2006}}

At the time of the attack, they were embedded with the U.S. 4th Infantry Division, traveling in an Iraqi MT-LB. Woodruff and Vogt were standing with their heads above a hatch, apparently filming a stand-up. Both men were wearing body armor and protective helmets at the time. Woodruff sustained shrapnel wounds; Vogt was struck by shrapnel in the head, and suffered a broken shoulder. Both men underwent surgery for head injuries with a joint Army and Air Force neurosurgical team at the U.S. Air Force hospital south of Balad, Iraq, located in Camp Anaconda, and they were reported to be in stable condition.{{cite news|title=ABC's Woodruff, Cameraman Injured in Iraq|publisher=ABC News, USA|date=January 29, 2006 |url =https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1553996&page=1}} Tom Brokaw reported on the Today show that Woodruff had a portion of his skull removed during surgery to reduce the damage from brain swelling.{{cite news |title=ABC's Woodruff Injured in Iraq|publisher=E! Online|website=EOnline.com|date=January 30, 2006|url=http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18251,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060219133251/http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0%2C1%2C18251%2C00.html |archive-date=February 19, 2006 }}

Woodruff and Vogt were evacuated to the U.S. Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany overnight on Sunday, January 29.{{cite news|title=ABC Anchor, Bob Woodruff, Cameraman, Doug Vogt, in Iraq in Stable Condition |publisher=CNN, USA|date=January 29, 2006 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/29/iraq.main/index.html}} On ABC World News Tonight that evening, anchor Elizabeth Vargas discussed the dangers of reporting in a combat zone. {{Wikinews|Bob Woodruff injured by improvised explosive device in Iraq}} After leaving Germany, Woodruff was treated for several weeks at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

Woodruff was kept in a medically induced coma for 36 days to assist his recovery, and ABC News temporarily assigned Good Morning America anchors Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer to alternate duties on the evening newscast as co-anchors with Vargas. Vogt meanwhile was reported to be awake, mobile, and recovering.{{cite news |title=Changes at ABC, Where the War Is More Than News |website=The New York Times|date=February 4, 2006|url =https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/arts/television/04abc.html | first=Jacques | last=Steinberg | access-date=April 26, 2010}}

As of March 7, 2006, Woodruff's brother reported that the ABC anchor was beginning to walk, recognize friends and family, and speak in several languages. However, he struggled with expressive aphasia for more than a year after the injury.{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-02-24-bob-woodruff_N.htm |title=Struggle for Words Frustrates Woodruff |website=USA Today |access-date=May 23, 2015}} Woodruff was transferred on March 16, 2006, to a medical facility closer to his home in Westchester County, New York, a sign of "continued progress in all respects", ABC News President, David Westin, wrote in an email to staffers.[http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002198875 ABC's Woodruff Transferred from Naval Hospital, Making Progress] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930023742/http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002198875 |date=September 30, 2007 }}, a March 2006 article from Editor & Publisher Westin's email noted that Woodruff was able to get around, talk to and joke with his family, but that "months of further recuperation" were required.

On April 6, 2006, ABC News released photos of Woodruff recovering at home, with a letter thanking everyone for their support and kindness during his ongoing recovery. Woodruff especially thanked the soldiers, doctors, and nurses who had saved his life.[http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2006/04/a_message_from_.html ABC News blogsite] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060418051837/http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2006/04/a_message_from_.html |date=April 18, 2006 }} On December 29, 2006, Woodruff's wife, Lee, an editor at Family Fun Magazine appeared on Good Morning America to discuss family activities to celebrate the New Year. During the report, anchor Kate Snow asked Lee about her husband's condition. Lee said that Bob was doing well and was currently filming a television documentary about his experiences. She also revealed that he had been back to Iraq since the incident to visit the soldiers with whom he was traveling at the time of his injury.

ABC World News Tonight remained second in the Nielsen Media Research rankings, but it had lost some ground to NBC's then first-place Nightly News, anchored by Brian Williams before his ouster. Bob Schieffer on CBS Evening News also closed the gap with ABC after Woodruff's injury. On May 23, 2006, Vargas announced her resignation from WNT, citing her doctors' recommendation to cut back her schedule considerably due to her upcoming maternity leave and her wish to spend more time with her new baby. Gibson was then named sole anchor of the show, effective May 29, 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1993658&page=1|title=Charles Gibson Named Sole Anchor of 'World News Tonight'|website=ABC News |access-date=May 23, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306191452/http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1993658&page=1|archive-date=March 6, 2009|url-status=dead}}

On February 27, 2007, Woodruff appeared on Good Morning America, ABC World News with Charles Gibson, and The Oprah Winfrey Show in advance of a documentary that aired on ABC later that evening. Despite having made great progress in his recovery, during an interview with Diane Sawyer, Woodruff had some difficulty remembering words and details, such as the name of the Vietnam War and the word "injury". The hour-long documentary To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports explored the consequences of traumatic brain injury and highlighted the difficulties brain injured veterans face finding treatment—a subject that had first appeared in Discover magazine several weeks earlier,{{cite web|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2007/feb/dead-men-walking|title=Dead Men Walking|work=Discover Magazine|access-date=May 23, 2015}} and was elaborated on by The Washington Post reporters in the exposé "Painting Over the Problems at Walter Reed's Building 18".

Woodruff resumed his contributions to ABC World News with Charles Gibson the following day, February 28, with the first in a series of follow-up reports centering on the problems that wounded American soldiers are encountering in their treatment and recovery, particularly at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Starting March 7, he was scheduled to begin reporting for Nightline "at regular intervals".Nightline email dated March 7, 2007

On July 12, 2008, Woodruff began hosting the weekly ABC News–produced newscast Focus Earth with Bob Woodruff on the Planet Green television channel. On Focus Earth, Woodruff covered the environmental news of the week, looking at subjects ranging from climate impact, environmental policy, political debate, and world events, as well as how climate change affects religious and cultural views and issues.{{cite web|url=http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/focus-earth|title=Environmental News and Information - MNN - Mother Nature Network|work=discovery.com|access-date=May 23, 2015}}

In 2014, Woodruff worked with ESPN and ABC Sports as a reporter and host for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, normally alongside ESPN Brazil senior writer Rubens Pozzi.

In 2020, he started a National Geographic show Rogue Trip, with his son Mack. The show premiered on Disney+.

The Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) is a nonprofit that supports post-9/11 impacted service members, veterans, and their families after they return home.{{cite web

|url=https://bobwoodrufffoundation.org/ |title=Bob Woodruff Foundation |publisher=Bob Woodruff Foundation, USA |date=January 30, 2017}}

In 2014, Woodruff was awarded the third highest honor within the Department of the Army Civilian Awards, the Outstanding Civilian Service Award, for substantial contributions to the U.S. Army community through his work with the Woodruff Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://www.army.mil/article/136345/salute_from_the_chief_a_special_twilight_tattoo|title=Salute from the Chief - A special Twilight Tattoo|date=October 20, 2014 |publisher=US Army|access-date=August 27, 2019}}

File:Lee Woodruff on Archetypes.jpg

Woodruff married Lee McConaughy in 1988, and they have four children, Macklin Robert (Mack), Cathryn, and twins Claire and Nora.

File:Bob Woodruff at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards for Wounds of War-The Long Road Home for Our Nation's Veterans.jpg

Woodruff has received numerous awards, including:

• Radio and Television Association's David Bloom Award for Excellence in Enterprise (2006);
• Peabody Award for Bob Woodruff Reporting: Wounds of War—The Long Road Home for Our Nation's Veterans (2007);[http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/bob-woodruff-reporting-wounds-of-war-the-long-road-home-for-our-nations-vet 67th Annual Peabody Awards], May 2008.
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America's (IAVA) "Civilian Service Award" for his dedication to our nation's newest generation of veterans (2007);
• Los Angeles Press Club's Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism (2008).
• NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards (2008)
• American Legion National Commander Public Relations Award (2013)
• Public Leadership in Neurology Award - American Brain Federation/American Academy of Neurology (2016){{Cite web|date=2016-04-19|title=Bob Woodruff To Be Honored With Public Leadership In Neurology Award|url=https://www.looktothestars.org/news/15138-bob-woodruff-to-be-honored-with-public-leadership-in-neurology-award|access-date=2020-11-20|website=Look to the Stars|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Bob Woodruff to Receive Public Leadership in Neurology Award|url=https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1460|access-date=2020-11-20|website=www.aan.com}}
• National Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award (2016){{Cite web|last=Broadcasters|first=National Association of|title=NAB Awards {{!}} Past Award Recipients|url=https://www.nab.org/events/awards/pastAwardWinners.asp|access-date=2021-06-22|website=National Association of Broadcasters|language=en-US}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|1997286}}
• {{Twitter}}
• {{C-SPAN|1023402}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131108233311/https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1373524 Vargas, Woodruff Named Co-Anchors of ABC's 'World News Tonight'] ABC.com. December 5, 2005.
• [https://www.today.com/popculture/vargas-woodruff-share-anchor-desk-abc-wbna10335483 Vargas, Woodruff to share anchor desk at ABC] MSNBC. December 5, 2005.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131109001521/https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=127761 Official ABC biography]
• [http://bobwoodrufffoundation.org/ Bob Woodruff Foundation]
• [http://www.americanwidowproject.org "Military Widows Hit the Road"] Bob Woodruff with the American Widow Project. March 25, 2009.

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{{succession box|

title=World News Tonight Co-Anchor|

with= Elizabeth Vargas|

before=Peter Jennings|

after=Charles Gibson|

years=January 3 – May 26, 2006
(last anchored January 27, 2006)|

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Category:1961 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Category:American male journalists

Category:American television news anchors

Category:American television reporters and correspondents

Category:American war correspondents

Category:Iraq War casualties

Category:People with traumatic brain injuries

Category:People associated with Shearman & Sterling

Category:Colgate Raiders men's lacrosse players

Category:Cranbrook Educational Community alumni

Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni

Category:20th-century American journalists

Category:21st-century American journalists

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