In case you have not heard...Amy's wonderful mother Dorothy died on Monday...


Dorothy Bock Goodman
Died: Monday, October 05, 2009
Age: 79

Dorothy Goodman, a retired teacher and social worker who was actively involved in Stony Brook University's Round Table, died on Oct. 5 of cancer. She was 79.

Dorrie was an enthusiastic culture maven who participated in a number of groups in the Stony Brook area. A voracious reader and former literature teacher, she was a long-standing member of the Virginia Fuller book group that meets at the Emma Clark Library. She also participated in numerous classes of the Round Table, the lifelong learning program at Stony Brook University. She was a regular passenger on the Port Jeff opera buses that went to the Metropolitan Opera.

Dorrie's greatest joy was her four children: Steven, a physician and professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore; Amy, who lives in New York City and is host of the daily TV/radio news program Democracy Now!; David, a journalist and author in Vermont; and Dan, a consultant who lives in Boston. Her five grandchildren kept her busy running around the northeast to take in their concerts and sports games.

Dorothy Bock Goodman was born in 1930 and grew up in Brooklyn with her older sister. Her father, Benjamin Bock, was a noted orthodox rabbi and graduate of the renowned Slobodka Yeshiva in Kaunas, Lithuania. He was the principal of the Crown Heights Yeshiva. Her mother, Sonia Bock, was the longtime social secretary of Hadassah.

Dorrie graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, then went on to get her bachelor's degree from Hunter College. In 1952, she married George Goodman, an ophthalmologist who was in private practice in Bay Shore, where they raised their family.

George and Dorrie Goodman shared a passion for social issues. Dorrie was a lifelong peace activist and a co-founder of a local chapter of the SANE/Freeze peace group. George was a co-founder of the Long Island chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Books and music were Dorrie's passion and her pleasure. "Books are like my children," she said. In the early 1970s, Dorrie decided to share her love of books and writing with a larger audience. She began teaching English at Dowling College and Suffolk County Community College. When she saw that there were no tenure track openings, she decided to change careers, and got a master's degree in social work from Adelphi University. For 15 years she conducted a private practice in psychiatric social work, until she and George both retired in 1992.

The Goodmans moved to Setauket in 1997 in order to become more involved in the programs they loved at the Round Table. Following George's death in 1998, Dorrie helped establish and coordinate the annual George Goodman Memorial Symposium, which is cosponsored by the provost's office at Stony Brook University and the Round Table. (This year's Goodman Symposium will be held on Oct. 29.)

Dorrie Goodman was a prolific world traveler. She visited Iran, Palestine, India, South Africa, Turkey, Vietnam and China, to name a few. Just last year, she and her children traveled to Lithuania to learn about where her parents grew up. At home and abroad, she had a rare ability to connect with people from all walks of life.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 1 pm at I.J. Morris Funeral Home in Dix Hills. Shiva will be observed on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9-10, from 2 to 8 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Democracy Now! (www.democracynow.org).
spacer