Murray H. Goodman (born 1925) is an American real estate developer, philanthropist, and founder of Goodman Properties (also known as The Goodman Company). He is

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Ep ...

's most generous living benefactor, and the Goodman Campus and 16,000-seat Goodman Stadium are named in his honor.

Early life

Murray Goodman was born in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,3 ...

. He was educated at Liberty High School there. Goodman served in the USAAF for 2.5 years. He then received a bachelor's degree in business administration from

graduating in 1948, and was captain of the basketball team in 1947.

Career

The Goodman Company, headquartered in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populatio ...

, was founded in 1960 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It has actively and successfully developed regional malls and power centers throughout

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

, and

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

for over five decades. Goodman began his career as a general contractor, constructing institutional buildings and developing supermarkets, service stations, and small shopping centers in eastern Pennsylvania. The company was an early pioneer in the development and management of regional and super-regional malls with more than 24 million square feet of commercial space. In 1980, he developed The Esplanade on Worth Avenue in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intraco ...

. Since 2004, it changed its name to 150 Worth. In 2014, it Goodman sold it for $146 million. Goodman has developed, owned and managed over 18 million square feet of shopping malls from Neptune, New Jersey, to

. The company is no longer building any ground up projects, but is seeking to buy existing retail properties in Florida,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

, and

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

. Goodman is a long-time member and trustee of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He has previously been ranked as one of the leading developers and managers of shopping malls by ''Shopping Center World'', a trade publication.

Philanthropy

The Goodman Campus, one of three at

, is named in his honor, Goodman having donated 550 acres in

Lower Saucon Township, Pennsylvania Lower Saucon Township is a township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township's population was 10,772 as of the 2010 census. The township is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and ...

, in 1983 to build a sports complex, including the 16,000-seat Murray H. Goodman Stadium. He is Lehigh's most generous living benefactor.

Personal life

Goodman is married to Joanie Mellor Goodman, they have five children, and live in Palm Beach, Florida. They originally lived in Pennsylvania. In 2009, Goodman listed his apartment at

960 Fifth Avenue 960 Fifth Avenue, also known as 3 East 77th Street, is a luxury apartment building on Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner of East 77th Street in Manhattan, New York. History 960 Fifth Avenue was built on the former site of the William A. Cl ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

at $32.5 million, but sold it to

Benjamin Steinbruch Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

two years later for $18.875 million. In 2015, he sold Turtle Lane Farm, his family's "lavish equestrian property" in Wellington, Florida for $9.675 million. In 2013, their daughter Marley Goodman, a real estate agent and former member of the U.S. Equestrian Team, married Brett Overman, president and CEO of National Disaster Solutions and Zip's Car Wash, also of Palm Beach, at the

Mar-a-Lago Club Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House" ...

, with Rabbi Solomon Rothstein officiating. They have a son, Malcolm Goodman.

References

External links

Murray H. Goodman
at The Goodman Group {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Murray H Living people 1925 births American philanthropists American real estate businesspeople Lehigh University alumni Liberty High School (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) alumni People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania People from West Palm Beach, Florida