SAGINAW, MI — On his last day of work after 27 years with Channel 5, WNEM, reporter Brian Wood received an impromptu standing ovation from a packed house of more than 500 people at the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce Leadership Awards.

"The audience just roared and gave him such a standing ovation," said Chamber Executive Vice President Veronica Horn of the Horizons Conference Center event Nov. 1, which Wood was covering as one of his last reporting assignments.

"It was very heartfelt. I don't think there was a person in the room that his life didn't touch."

Less than a month later, on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 28, Wood died at Covenant HealthCare hospital in Saginaw after collapsing at home, according to WNEM.

He was born in 1949, according to WNEM, and his cause of death was not immediately available.

During the chamber event, Horn helped Wood to secure interviews of award recipients. He also interviewed Horn, as he had many times in the past, she said, noting he was joking around as usual but also took his job seriously.

"He was always the reporter out and about at different events," she said. "He was always the kind of guy you wanted to know and talk to."

Horn said she remembers when she first met Wood in the early 1990s. He was a reporter assigned to cover a war protest, and the story showed Horn,

working as a District Specialist for Congressman Bob Traxler,

faxing a petition of signatures about the war.

Wood at one time owned JB Meinberg and Woody O'Brien's in Old Saginaw City, while

Horn and her husband, Ken Horn, owned the former Dead Creek Saloon. The Horns often saw Wood a few times a week and had conversations about running a business in Saginaw County, Horn said.

"He had a

deep

love for Saginaw, which made him a more effective reporter," Horn said. "He did his job well, reporting the good and the bad, and it was even better because people knew him and trusted him. Because he was part of the community."

She said Wood was having a great time and joking around during his final day on the job.

She saw him again in recent weeks and said he was in good spirits and seemed to be feeling well and looking forward to retirement.

She said Wood planned to continue with his photography and other passions, spending time with family while "quietly helping others" during his retirement.

"We're going to miss him terribly," she said.

WNEM honored Wood during broadcasts Thursday, Nov. 28 and Friday, Nov. 29.

WNEM News Director Ian Rubin, who has been with the station for 10 years, called Wood a "top-flight professional" and said the station's staff is mourning the loss.

"He always came prepared for any kind of story, he had great community contacts and sources and he pursued stories with the utmost fairness and professionalism," Rubin said.

He will miss spending time with Wood, Rubin said, noting that he enjoyed talking about news stories with him and also "shooting the breeze" afterward.

Wood was competitive in his work, Rubin said, but he was always willing to help out someone in need, even his competitors.

"He was super competitive and he wanted to break stories, but if a competitor needed a little helping hand, as long as it didn't detract from something exclusive, he was always willing to help.

"That was another terrific quality of his."

Several friends and former colleagues posted their thoughts online upon hearing of the news. View some comments posted on social media below: