He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1917 and gave generously to both his alma mater and Emory University, including (in coordination with his brother Robert W. Woodruff) what was at the time the single largest donation ever to a school, $105 million to Emory University in 1979.

[1] In 1984, Forbes magazine estimated that Woodruff was worth $200 million (equivalent to $586,547,085 as of 2023).

[3] Also at Georgia Tech, the Woodruff Residence Hall is a dorm on west campus.

Woodruff left the Georgia Tech Foundation $37.5 million in his will, one of the largest private gifts the school has received.

[7] Under the terms of his will, according to a lawsuit, his two other daughters, Jane and Irene, were each to receive about $30 million.