David Michael Goodman

HISTORIAN DAVID M GOODMAN PASSES AWAY APRIL 18, 2025: CO-AUTHOR OF

NATIONAL NURSING TEXTBOOK AND SUPREME COURT CASE RESEARCHER

Born October 13, 1936, David Michael Goodman, 88, passed away unexpectedly on April 18, 2025. He is survived by his brother, Edward Charles Goodman of Canoga Park, CA; his sister, Maxine Ruth Goodman of Tucson; nieces, Allyson Anne Elizabeth Blanchette of Cary, NC; Chandra Lynne DuFrene of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and several cousins and aunts. He is predeceased by parents, Herman and Shirley Goodman of Tucson.

At the time of his death he was researching a comprehensive bibliography of all known Arizona Territorial Documents and imprints. He had copyrighted Empire in Print: The Published Documents of Az Territorial Govt. 1863-1912.

He moved to Tucson at age 8 from Boston, Mass., later graduating from Amphitheater High School.

He received both his BA in history and masters degrees from the University of Arizona, Tucson and his Ph.D. from Texas Christian University, Ft. Worth. His Ph.D. is in Special Collections at the University of Arizona. He was accepted at Yale University but missed the Ph.D. deadline. They invited him for the following year, but Goodman chose not to wait. His Ph.D. was a study of Apaches as prisoners of War, 1886-1894.

He published Arizona Odyssey, Bibliographic Adventures in Nineteenth Century Magazines in 1969 by the Arizona Historical Foundation, Tempe, with a foreword by Barry Goldwater who noted “the book will be consulted by students, teachers, scholars and librarians.” The book can be found in many university libraries in Arizona and in California libraries, including University of California, San Jose.

His masters, A Western Panorama 1849-1875 encompassed the life and times of J. Ross Browne, a treasury agent in the 1950’s, the first mining commissioner and minister to China. It was published by the prestigious The Arthur H. Clark Company Glendale, CA in 1966 with good reviews from the Los Angeles Times.

He taught for several years as a history professor at State University of New York, Albany, NY, while living in Saratoga Springs, NY. He performed historical restoration there.

He moved to Portsmouth, N.H. forming New England Historical Services. He first gained a reputation as a historian when the Portsmouth City Council determined that the city needed an inventory of its historical records and paintings. Such a list did not exist prior to Goodman’s work. The inventory is still used today and is, in fact, providing a starting point in a new push within the city to create a permanent city archive.

His reputation grew when he was tapped to write The Changing Humors of Portsmouth, The Medical Biography of an American Town 1623-1983 with J. Worth Estes, MD, Professor of Pharmacology, Boston University School of Medicine. Published in 1986 by Harvard University’s Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, the book mirrored the changes in medical practices and techniques.

Goodman’s research was of such a definitive nature that the book became a text for nursing schools across the country. His research techniques are now modeled for further projects.

Portsmouth has a long history of shipbuilding beginning in 1650’s, building a solid reputation by the 1690’s. The Portsmouth Shipyard is the U.S. Navy’s continuously operating shipyard. Today, most work concerns repair, overhaul, and modernization of submarines.

Goodman was asked by the attorney general of New Hampshire to research a boundary dispute between New Hampshire and Maine which was reviewed by The United States Supreme Court. At that time, he met Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Goodman belonged to the Arizona Historical Society and the Portsmouth Athenaeum, an independent membership library, gallery, and museum housing documents and artifacts relating to local history, preserving materials concerning New Hampshire’s only seaport. Members are given keys to frequent at their leisure.

Goodman was not only a scholar and a gentleman but loved browsing in bookstores and art galleries and collected art, including portraits. He loved restoring items such as Mexican benches and 19th century carpenters’ chests, and clocks.

He was a mentor to his students and to his friends who needed assistance and was a true wit.

Sports wise, he loved the Boston Red Sox and never missed a televised game when he lived in Tucson. He loved fishing with his Albany State buddys at Lake Champlain, NY. He was many-sided and he loved musicals and classical music.

He was kind and generous and was loved and respected by all who knew him.