Goodgold, Sally.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Known as the "Ethel Merman of land use," Sally Gottfried Goodgold was born in 1929 in New York. She grew up in the Plymouth Hotel on West 49th Street, which her father, J. Samuel Gottfried, managed. She received a bachelor's degree from Bucknell University in 1949 and volunteered at Beth Israel Hospital, where she met cardiologist Murray Goodgold, whom she married. They had two children. She was co-founder with urban planner Martin Gallent of G&G Partnerships, a consultancy focused on environmentally conscious development. Beginning in the 1970s, she held a number of positions on Community Board 7/Manhattan. In 1984, she became first woman president of the City Club, a good-government group founded in 1892. A regular attendee at City Planning Commission meetings, she was professor of urban planning at Queens College. She served on the board of the New York City Police Foundation and was a member of the Settlement Housing Fund, Jewish Community Relations Council, Park Avenue Synagogue, Civitas, and Citizens Union. Goodgold was known for her non-confrontational negotiating style, which she called "bagel diplomacy." She would have key players to her apartment on West 79th Street for breakfast to, as she said, "keep them talking for as long as it takes to chew through a whole bagel." To maintain her political independence, she never ran for office. Goodgold received numerous awards, including an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the City University of New York and an Outstanding Citizen Award from New York City. She died August 18, 2011, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan at age 82. She received a rare honor at her funeral where the casket was draped with New York City's flag.

Sources:

Dovere, Maxine. “Sally Goodgold, A Spirit of the City, Dead at 82.” (New York: the algemeiner, August 22, 2011).

Dunlap, David W. “Sally Goodgold, Civic Advocate Who Practiced ‘Bagel Diplomacy,’ Dies at 82.” (New York: The New York Times, August 28, 2011).

Leon, Masha. “The Unsinkable Sally Goodgold,” (New York: The Jewish Daily Forward, September 2011).

From the guide to the Sally Goodgold Papers, 1940-2011, [Bulk Dates: 1970-2011], (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)