"Wally was such a personal force with the National Association of Realtors that he paved the way for Utah to have two national presidents - Russell K. Booth (1997) and Al Mansell (2004) - within a 10-year period," said Chris Kyler, executive director of the Utah Association of Realtors.
Woodbury was buried Monday at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Salt Lake County after his death Wednesday at the age of 81.
An attorney by training, he branched into real estate upon returning to Utah from Washington, D.C., where he obtained his law degree from George Washington University Law School.
Woodbury helped form Richards Woodbury Mortgage Co., then became president of Woodbury Corp., developing numerous real estate projects in several states with his father, a brother, sons and nephews. University Mall in Orem was one of his favorite projects.
Active in the International Council of Shopping Centers, he became president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors in 1966, the same year he was named that organization's Realtor of the Year. In 1971, Woodbury became president of the Utah Association of Realtors. He was a four-time regional vice president of the National Association of Realtors, also serving as chairman of its federal tax subcommittee for 17 years.
That service, Kyler noted, made Woodbury "the only recipient from Utah of [the national association's] distinguished service award. . . . Wally's reputation and what he stood for were well established by his numerous opportunities to testify before Congress and other regulatory panels."
He also was elected to the national Realtors Hall of Fame and received distinguished service awards from the Salt Lake County and Utah Realtor organizations.
What impressed Kyler most about Woodbury was his generosity. "Every year I sat down with Wally and he'd take an hour to give me life lessons learned and a pep talk. Here's a guy who accomplished everything he needed in life but took the time to get to know a young, wet-behind-the-ears lawyer and educate him about real estate."
That generosity extended to financial contributions to the University of Utah, Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College, where the business school building is named after his parents.
"Few families are revered on our campus like the Woodburys," said Val Hale, UVSC's vice president for institutional advancement, crediting Wallace and other family members with creating an endowment that has financed faculty research and the education of many students. "We will miss our frequent association with Wallace."
Woodbury was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He was born Sept. 4, 1925, in Salt Lake City to F. Orin and Nina Richards Woodbury. He married Beverley Clair Beesley on Sept. 5, 1946; she died in 2003. He is survived by three sons: Rick (Becky), Lynn (Cecily) and Jeff (Sonia), all of Salt Lake City; 12 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; brother, Orin (Imogene); and sister, Dorothy (William) Macrate.
- Mike Gorrell
