Uncrowned Community Builders

Paul D. Woodson was a longtime nightclub and hotel owner and a descendant of Thomas Jefferson.

The East Amherst resident was born in Washington, D.C. According to the book "A President in the Family," written by his relative Byron W. Woodson Sr., he was a descendant of a child produced by an affair between Jefferson and his black slave Sally Hemings.

After high school, he briefly attended St. Augustine's College, a historically black college in North Carolina, and then worked as a carpenter, building houses in the resort community of Highland Beach, Md. He later served in the U.S. Army during World War II, as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. During his service he was trained to maintain and repair airplanes at Pratt and Whitney.

After the war, he remained in Buffalo and married Ann Montgomery, owner of the Little Harlem Hotel and nightclub on Michigan Street. She died in 1978. Through their business, Woodson became acquainted with popular entertainers of the day, such as Lena Horne and prizefighter Joe Louis.

He retired in 1989, and enjoyed spending winters boating in Florida.

He is survived by his wife of six years, the former Patricia Giancarlo, and a brother, John S. of South Carolina.

He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. At the time of his death, he was 91 years old.