Goldman, Rhoda H., -1996

Biographical Information

Richard Goldman (1920-2010) was born to Richard Samuel Goldman (from San Francisco) and Alice Wertheim (from Great Falls, Montana). Richard attended the University of California, Berkeley and served in the United States Army between 1942 and 1946. Richard Goldman married Rhoda Haas (1924-1996), daughter of Walter A. Haas, Sr. and Elise Stern, in 1946. Rhoda also attended UC Berkeley as an undergraduate. In 1949, Richard Goldman founded Goldman Insurance Services. The Goldmans had three children: John, Doug, and Susan.

During the course of the second half of the twentieth century, Richard and Rhoda Goldman established themselves as major philanthropists. The Goldman Fund, the couple's primary philanthropic organization, was launched in 1951. The funding priorities of the Goldman Fund have included programs in the San Francisco Bay Area that are related to local Jewish life, democracy and civil society, social and human services, population, the elderly, violence prevention, and children and youth. The Fund has also provided support to national and international projects relating particularly to the environment, democracy and civil society, population issues, and violence prevention. In 1989, the Goldmans launched the Goldman Environmental Prize, which quickly became the premiere international award for grassroots environmental work. The first Goldman Environmental Prizes were awarded in 1990.

Among the many Bay Area institutions that have benefited from the Goldmans' generosity are the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the Jewish Community Federation, Congregation Emanu-El, and Stanford University.

In addition to their philanthropy, Richard and Rhoda Goldman played important roles in San Francisco civic life, frequently serving on the boards of Bay Area organizations and institutions. Richard was president of the Jewish Community Federation in 1981-1982 (after decades of service to the Federation on various committees). Richard also played roles in the following local, state, and national organizations (among others): the San Francisco Port Commission; the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission; the Yosemite Fund; the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust; San Franciscans for Good Government; The National Institute Against Prejudice and Violence; United Jewish Appeal; the World Affairs Council; AIPAC; Save the Redwoods; the American-Israel Friendship League; and the Stern Grove Festival Association. Between 1992 and 1995, Richard Goldman served in the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Protocol. Rhoda Goldman served on the boards of or was active in the following organizations: Mount Zion Hospital (Board President from 1975-1978); the Levi Strauss Company; the San Francisco Symphony; the San Francisco Foundation; the San Francisco Holocaust Memorial Committee (as Chairwoman); the Stern Grove Festival Association; and the American Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery Program (which she became involved with after her own fight with breast cancer at the age of thirty-one).

Richard and Rhoda Goldman were politically active, contributing time and money to local, state, and national political campaigns. Richard Goldman participated throughout his life in Republican political organizations and carried on regular correspondence with politicians in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C.

From the guide to the Richard N. and Rhoda H. Goldman papers, 1863-2003, 1939-1995, (The Bancroft Library.)