Derrick Lanardo Woody, the son of Tommy Woody and Sarah Woody, was born on February 11, 1971 and departed this life on July 14, 2020, at his residence in Washington, DC.

A private viewing for immediately family will be held on Friday, July 24, 2020 from 5:00 pm until 6:00 pm at the mortuary. The family has requested potted floral arrangements. At an early age, Derrick joined the Mount Hermon Baptist Church under the leadership of Rev. Louis Upshaw where he attended Sunday School and was a member of the Upshaw Choir

Derrick grew up in West Shawmut, AL. He attended Shawmut Elementary School through 4th grade and later attended the Lanett School system through 6th grade. After a family move, Derrick attended junior high and high school in Valley, AL. He was actively involved in a number of student organizations and founded and became the first editor of Valley High School’s RamPage newspaper. He eventually graduated third in his senior class in 1989.

Throughout his youth, Derrick was fascinated by different cultures and the arts, including painting, drawing, singing and a broad range of others. This interest grew and inevitably influenced Derrick’s interest in architecture and construction. After high school, Derrick attended Talladega College, on a full scholarship, to study engineering and mathematics, but eventually transferred into Architecture at Auburn University. He graduated with honors in 1994 with a Bachelor of Architecture. In the last two years of the five-year architecture program, Derrick became keenly interested in working creatively and methodically to improve and change problems at the urban scale, with a particular interest in the transformation of historically African American communities. He pursued this at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and graduated with a Master of Architecture in Urban Design in 1996.

Derrick worked in a number of capacities including economic development, urban design, affordable housing, and community organization in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, Palm Beach, FL, and Washington DC. His expertise was sought after for consulting stints in South Africa through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and in Romania through the World Bank. More robust positions involving large scale redevelopment were offered in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Detroit, Michigan.

Derrick began his work in Washington, DC in 2000. In Washington, he lead the successful transformation of the long under-invested H Street corridor, Georgia Avenue, McMillan Sand Filtration Site, Walter Reed Army Medical Center Campus, Capitol Gateway, Rhode Island Avenue NE and a long list of others. He championed the redevelopment of the historic Howard Theatre, one of the nation’s oldest theaters built to showcase the artistry of African American and Black artists from Duke Ellington to Diana Ross and today’s performing artists. The Howard now anchors the eastern end of a now vibrant African American cultural district.

His work in Washington began in the city’s Office of Planning and ended in 2011 in the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). In DMPED, Derrick was credited with founding and initial direction of the citywide Great Streets program. Great Streets has leveraged substantial revitalization of major corridors across the city. Derrick’s work with DC’s Office of Planning and DMPED collectively resulted in the development of billions of dollars in neighborhood improvements, including over 16,000 new affordable and mixed income housing units, 1.5 million square feet of retail, and 12 acres of parks.

Derrick was Chief Executive Officer of DLW LLC, a real estate and land use advisory firm. The firm’s work included and ongoing consultation to revitalize H Street, Bladensburg Road NE, Benning Road NE and others. He also served as a senior project management and government relations advisor for a catalytic mixed-use project in the Anacostia neighborhood, located in DC’s poorest wards.

Beginning in 2015, Derrick served on the board of directors for City Blossoms, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering healthy communities by developing creative, kid-driven green spaces where a unique brand of gardens, science, art, healthy living, and community building are applied. City Blossom “blossoms” in neighborhoods where kids, their families, and neighbors may not otherwise have access to green spaces.

Derrick was extremely interested in travel and was often seeking new and exotic destinations. Some of his travels included Istanbul, Turkey, Fort-de-France, Martinique, Vancouver, British Columbia, Montreal, Canada, Cape Town, South Africa, Barcelona, Spain, La Paz, Bolivia and a host of other locations around the globe. Through travel, he learned about other cultures and cities, and those experiences influenced his body of work. Many of those travels were captured through Derrick’s avid interest in photography.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Nathan and Carrie Flournoy, Booker T. (Mary Lee) Woody, and Lillian (Oscar) Dunn and many other relatives and friends.

His life memories will be cherished by mother Sarah Woody, of Lanett AL; and father Tommy Lee Woody of Lanett; his sisters, Toni (Jerome) Walker and Cathy Woody Turner, both of Lanett, AL; brother, Sterling (Tameka) Woody, Raleigh, NC; uncles, Roosevelt (Louise) Flournoy, Charlie (Corinthian) Woody, John T. (Patricia) Woody, Lanett, AL, Lee (Deborah) Woody, Atlanta, GA; aunts, Shirley (Sammie) Cleaves, Atlanta, GA, Sarah Dunn, Lanett, AL, Mary Dell Williams, Boston, MA, Marion Marshall and Barbara Rowe, Lanett, AL, Martha Thomas, Greenville, NC, Linda Flournoy Peterson, Lanett, AL ; nephews, Phidoski (Erica) Woody, Jamario Turner, Sterling Woody II; nieces, Shakera Stiggers, Aerial Woody, and Aysia Woody; Great nephews, Kaiden and Giaxon Woody; great nieces, Khyli Arrington and Kamryn Lockhart and a host of cousins, other relatives and friends.