Pierre Claeyssens, Philanthropist and name sake for the Foundation was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1909. Claeyssens spoke often of his childhood memories of World War I. Drafted into the Belgian army at age 21, he found himself unsuited to peacetime military life and ended his service to return to architectural training. Claeyssens left Belgium at the age of 30 with Europe on the verge of another
major war. Soon the young architect emigrated to California, serving the war effort by helping design Liberty ships at Terminal Island during World War II. In the decades following the war, Claeyssens worked as an architect designing schools, libraries and other public buildings throughout Southern California, including a school in the town of Lompoc. He married the late Ailene Wood, an oil heiress from Santa Barbara, and was never shy about recounting how he became a multimillionaire. And for the rest of his life he unceasingly expressed his profound gratitude to the American GIs who helped free his native Belgium in the two World Wars.. Claeyssens was a beloved figure in the world of Santa Barbara philanthropy, largely confined to a wheelchair in his later years but remembered by those who knew him as a man who never lost his gentle outlook on life, his vitality, and his enthusiasm for helping other people. The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, established in 1980, now distributes $3 million annually to more than 200 charities. Asked about his special feelings for the military, Claeyssens said: "First of all, Americans set Belgium free. I still feel an obligation to the United States, especially the military. That's why I am behind the idea of a museum to honor the soldiers who died. To be killed in a war is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worst. To be forgotten is the worst." Pierre died in 2003, but his legacy lives on. He will never be forgotten.
