Irving M. Goldman
Burlington, Vt. — Irving M. Goldman, born Aug. 27, 1931, and passed away Jan. 24, 2021.
I lived a long, joyful, rewarding life and express my deep love and gratitude to my dear wife of 68 years,
Sheila Harriet Lefcourt Goldman; to daughter Dr. Alix Casler and her three sons, Nick, Sam and Matthew; to my son Dr. Glenn Goldman, his partner Nina Curtiss, to his sons, Greg and Jeff and to her son Sam; and to my nieces Linda Garland and Sherry Richards and my nephew Stan Wasser, and their families. I was predeceased by my sister Francis Rose Wasser; and my brother Leon. My one remaining cousin Dr. Richard Goldman has retired in South Burlington, Vt. Goodbye Rick. My warm thanks to Drs. Frank Landry, Julian Sprague, Adam Kunin, Barbara Grant, Todd Holmes and Mark Plante, and to my hospice team.
I am a first generation American. My dad, Solomon Goldman, and my mom, Gertrude Blendman, immigrated from Poland and the Ukraine in the early 1900s. They met in Washington, D.C., and married in 1917. I grew up in Washington and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. I attended the University of Maryland for a year and transferred to Cornell University where I met Sheila. I graduated in chemistry and went on to a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at MIT. After one year in Cincinnati at P&G we went back to Boston for a twoyear post-doc.
In 1960 I took a job as a chemist at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in Groton, which would be my career. Sheila gave birth to Alice in 1961, and to Glenn in 1965. She designed a one-level modern redwood home nestled in an oak forest on Laurel Hill in Niantic. I became a gardener and a rock wall builder and spent much of my time working on the property. Sheila raised our two children before returning to work, first in computer science at Connecticut College and then as a beloved math teacher at the Pine Point School.
I worked for Pfizer for 36 years, becoming Manager of Pfizer’s first process research division and then Director of Environmental Sciences working with the FDA and EPA. I developed the process for two Pfizer antibiotics, completed the environmental assessment for the first recombinant DNA food additive (calf chymosin for making cheese) and successfully submitted the regulatory assessment for the antibiotic Zithromax. I retired in 1997.
During my work years I ran each day at lunch. I became a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and loved hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I found great joy and freedom on my bicycle and became a scuba diver and downhill skier. We were members of the Thames Ski Club on Pico Peak, and in my older years Sheila and I loved to cross-country ski on Shelburne Bay and at Trapps Family Lodge in Vermont.
I was a member of the East Lyme school board and became President of the Thames Science Center, receiving the inaugural Roger Tory Peterson award upon my departure.
Life has been a road traveled with my friends and family. I spent my last years writing and printing photos from my life: My parents who immigrated to America with but the clothes on their backs. A bike trip on (then) dirt roads in Maine as a teenager with my brother Lee. My time with Sheila at Cornell and in Boston. Time with family at the Cape and in the White Mountains. Walks in the Oswegatchie Hills with family, and cross-country skiing when it would snow. Our two golden retrievers. The smiles of my grandchildren. A toast with my friends on New Year’s Eve. Life!
I do not wish for a funeral. May our family gather when the pandemic lets go.
Contributions in my memory may be made to the UVM Cancer Center.