It didn’t matter to Goldman that maybe the man wanted to think a little longer about what he could offer, or maybe make a donation later.
Goldman had the driver stop the bus.
“You can get off here and walk back to your hotel,” said Goldman, waving his hand toward the barren sand.”
The man pledged on the spot.
Goldman died last week at the age of 82. Throughout his life, he championed numerous Jewish causes as well as many charitable causes unrelated to his religion.
He was on the initial commission for the Ohio Lottery, appointed by then Gov. John Gilligan. He served on the Dayton Foundation governing board from 1973-1982, and fellow board member John Moore Sr. remembered, “Even though he was a volunteer, he was also a lawyer and he spent a lot of time assuring we were in compliance with other foundations.”
Goldman also sat on the University of Dayton board of trustees and was a trustee for Carillon Park.
The general public probably remembers him best for his string of Goldman’s department stores, run with his brothers and borne out of the old Bargain Barn establishments, considered if not the first, at least among the initial discount stores in the nation in the 1970s.
Other chains soon took over, pushing Goldman out of business, but not erasing a storied past.
As a fundraiser, especially for Israel, he spearheaded drives that led the nation in per capita giving and became fast friends with Israel’s prime minister, Golda Meir.
When he knew of friends visiting Israel, he offered to call Ezer Weizman — the country’s president from 1993-2000 — to see if they could stay with him.
He met four U.S. presidents: John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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