Bob and Lee Woodruff
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Television Journalist
FUNDING AREAS: Veterans
OVERVIEW: Bob Woodruff and his wife Lee established the Bob Woodruff Foundation to find, fund, and shape innovative programs that help veterans, service members and their families thrive.
BACKGROUND: Bob Woodruff holds a B.A. from Colgate University and a J.D. from University of Michigan Law School. He worked out of ABC News' London Bureau and was later named co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight in 2005.
BOB WOODRUFF FOUNDATION: Woodruff was reporting for ABC’s “World News Tonight” in Iraq on January 29, 2006, when his armored vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. He sustained a life-threatening traumatic brain injury and spent more than a month in a medically-induced coma. That experience introduced Lee to service members and their families dealing with the impact of hidden injuries such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress (PTS) and depression.
On the heels of the ordeal, the family established the Bob Woodruff Foundation which focuses on Rehabilitation and Recovery, Education and Employment, and Quality of Life for veterans, including a Veterans In-Vitro InitiAtive program, which seeks to ensure that veterans who want to are able to have children. The Bob Woodruff Foundation partners with innovative nonprofits to find, fund and shape programs across the nation that best meet the emerging and long-term needs of today’s veterans and their families.
The Bob Woodruff Foundation has partnered with veterans organizations including Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB), which helps veterans reintegrate into civilian life; Hire Heroes USA; Merging Vets and Players; and Student Veterans of America. The foundation hosts a series of High Impact Collaboration events on a range of issues that can drive change.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the family’s strong interest in veterans to continue. The Woodruffs may have other more direct avenues of giving and some important gifts may be missing from this rundown.
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