| Cyrus Woods | |
| Governor: | John Stuchell Fisher |
| Office: | Attorney General of Pennsylvania |
| Term Start: | March 1, 1929 |
| Term End: | October 30, 1930 |
| Predecessor: | Thomas Baldrige |
| Successor: | William Schnader |
| Office2: | United States Ambassador to Japan |
| Term Start2: | July 21, 1923 |
| Term End2: | June 5, 1924 |
| Predecessor2: | Charles Warren |
| Successor2: | Edgar Bancroft |
| President2: | Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge |
| Office3: | United States Ambassador to Spain |
| Term Start3: | October 14, 1921 |
| Term End3: | April 18, 1923 |
| Predecessor3: | Joseph Willard |
| Successor3: | Alexander Moore |
| President3: | Warren G. Harding |
| Office4: | Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
| Term Start4: | January 20, 1915 |
| Term End4: | October 14, 1921 |
| Predecessor4: | Robert McAfee |
| Successor4: | Bernard Myers |
| Governor4: | Martin Brumbaugh William Sproul |
| Office5: | United States Envoy to Portugal |
| Term Start5: | March 20, 1912 |
| Term End5: | August 19, 1913 |
| Predecessor5: | Edwin Morgan |
| Successor5: | Meredith Nicholson |
| President5: | William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson |
| State Senate6: | Pennsylvania |
| Term Start6: | January 1, 1901 |
| Term End6: | May 16, 1907 |
| Predecessor6: | John Brown |
| Successor6: | John Jamison |
| Spouse: | Mary Todd Marchand |
| Profession: | Attorney, Politician, Diplomat |
| Birth Date: | 3 September 1861 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Death Place: | Clearfield, Pennsylvania |
| Party: | Republican |
Cyrus E. Woods (September 3, 1861 – December 8, 1938) was an American attorney, diplomat and politician.
He was born September 3, 1861, in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, to Matthew Woods and Catheine/Katharine (Bella) Spice/Speece.[1] He attended Lafayette College.[2] He later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a law degree in 1889. Woods practiced law in Philadelphia and then in Pittsburgh, where he became associated with the interests of the Mellon family. On January 18, 1893, Woods married the former Mary Todd Marchand,[3] a great-granddaughter of James Todd, former state Attorney General.
In 1900, Woods made his first bid for political office, successfully contesting the Westmoreland County-based 39th district of the Pennsylvania State Senate. He served in the Senate for two terms, from 1901 to 1907.[4]
Woods received his first diplomatic appointment in 1912, when President William Howard Taft named him the United States' Envoy to Portugal, with the official title of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, as the United States had not yet elevated the post to ambassador status.
In 1915, Governor Martin Brumbaugh appointed him Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Woods would serve six years in the post, before resigning in 1921 to take-up the post of Ambassador to Spain. In 1923, he moved to the post of Ambassador to Japan. During his time in Japan, he organized the American relief effort in response to the devastating 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, before resigning in 1924.
In 1929, Governor John Fisher, with whom Woods had served in the State Senate,[5] appointed him Pennsylvania Attorney General. Woods served in the post, his final political or diplomatic appointment, for eighteen months.
Woods died December 8, 1938, in Philadelphia, where he had gone for medical treatment. After his death, his widow established a foundation which became the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.[6]