His early years were spent in a farm in Redland, Florida, where he developed his passion for plant life.
In 1955, Woodbury accepted a position at the Experimental Agricultural Station at the University of Puerto Rico, to work on tropical plants.
Woodbury's field work into Puerto Rico's forests provided valuable insight on the identification of new species of plans, as well as re-discovering plants thought to have been extinct.
Woodbury is also credited for the discovery of the Malpighia woodburyana, known as cowage cherry; Solanum woodburyi, known as Woodsbury nightshade; Lepanthus woodburyi, a kind of orchid found in the rain forests of Puerto Rico; and Eugenia woodburyana, a flowering plant.
Roy Woodbury died on November 21, 2002, in Stuart, Florida after suffering from skin cancer, a condition known to be caused by prolonged exposure to the sun.