Rhoda Haas Goldman (1924 – February 17, 1996) was an American billionaire philanthropist in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
Biography
Goldman was the only daughter born to
Walter A. Haas
Walter A. Haas Sr. (May 11, 1889 – December 7, 1979), was an American billionaire businessman who was the president and chairman of Levi Strauss & Co.
Early life and education
Haas was born to a Jewish family, one of four children of Abrah ...
and Elise Stern (heiress to the
Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss (; born Löb Strauß ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisc ...
fortune);
and granddaughter of
David Stern
David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020) was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. Stern oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of t ...
.
She was a graduate of the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
and, in 1946, she married fellow Berkeley alumnus
Richard Goldman.
[New York Times: "Rhoda H. Goldman, Civic Benefactor, 71"](_blank)
February 20, 1996 In 1951, the couple founded the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, a foundation that has donated over $680 million to various organizations.
The
Goldman School of Public Policy
The Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, or the Goldman School of Public Policy (GSPP), is a public policy school and one of fourteen schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. Originally named the Graduate Scho ...
at Berkeley is named after the Goldmans.
She served as president of the
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fra ...
, chairwoman of San Francisco's Memorial to the Six Million Victims of the Holocaust, director of the Mount Zion Health System, president of the Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center,
and president of
Congregation Emanu-El, the city's largest reform Jewish synagogue.
She was a major supporter of environmental causes and San Francisco arts organizations and a co-founder with her husband of the
Goldman Environment Prize in 1990.
Personal life
She had four children with her husband:
John D. Goldman
John D. Goldman (born August 18, 1949) is an American businessman and philanthropist in San Francisco, California. He is a member of the Haas family through his mother.
Biography
Goldman was born to a Jewish family on August 18, 1949 in San Franc ...
,
Douglas E. Goldman,
Susan R. Gelman,
and Richard Goldman (deceased).
Jewish Telegraph Agency: "Philanthropist Richard Goldman dies at 90" By Ami Eden
November 30, 2010 Her grandson, son of Richard, is attorney Daniel S. Goldman.
References
External links
Finding Aid for the Richard N. and Rhoda H. Goldman papers, 1863-2003
The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldman, Rhoda Haas
1924 births
1996 deaths
American philanthropists
Jewish American philanthropists
People from San Francisco
Haas family
University of California, Berkeley alumni