Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 48, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 30, 1994 Page: 2 of 32
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Feature 2
TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDA Y, JUNE 30, 1994 -IN OUR 43TH YEARI
Ow% dotted Victor*
A synagogue community rallies around the bereaved family of Ronald L. Goldman
NAOMI PFEFFERMAN Special to the Texas Jewish Post
■^■■Angeles — Everyone is by gym, according to the Los Ange-
■ os An
I now familiar with the news
headlines: O J Simpson ac-
iHicused of the stabbing deaths
of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simp-
son, and her friend, the 25-year-
old waiter Ronald Lyle Goldman.
What is less known is the story of
Mr. Goldman’s Jewish family, and
the synagogue community that
has rallied around them in their
time of distress.
The shul is Temple Beth
Haverim in Agoura Hills, a close-
knit, Conservative congregation
of330 families on the outskirts of
Los Angeles County. Fred Gold-
man and his wife, Patti (Ron’s
stepmother) were immediately
drawn to Beth Haverim when
they moved here from Chicago in
1987; it was at the syna-
gogue that they made
many of thcar dose friend
ships in a large chauurah,
and that Patti’s three
children by a previous
marriage became bar/hat
mitzvah.
Fred joined the Men’s
League and Path the Sis-
terhood (she even became
a board member who
worked for the telephone -
committee).
As for Ron Goldman, he had
apparently followed his father and
stepmother to L06 Angeles: Fred
had raised him, and his sister,
Kim, from the time that the boy
was 5 (at the time his biological
mother left the family and has not
been in contact since). Young Ron
attended Hebrew school and be-
came bar mitzvah in Chicago; he
worked as a camp counselor, vol-
unteered to help disabled children
and taught kids tennis. This last
was his great love.
In Los Angeles the youth hoped
to find his California dream: He
worked as a waiter, as a tennis
coach and employment head-
hunter, he was a charismatic,
helpful "people person,” according
to friends and co-workers.
Mr. Goldman appeared on the
Fox TV show “Studs," in a print
advertisement for Giorgio Ar-
mani, put together a modeling
video and avidly exercised at the
isa senior
writer for the Jewish Journal of
Los Angeles.
les Times. The Times also report-
ed that he was an enthusiastic
surfer, voDeyball player and night-
club-hopper who dated beautiful
women; though Mr. Goldman
once trained as an emergency
medical technician he worked as
a waiter at the upscale Brentwood
trattoria Mezzaluna, and
dreamed of opening his own
trendy Westside bar or restau-
rant
And despite his apparent love
for the fast lane, friends say, his
great talent was working with
children.
In the last weeks before his
death, the Times said, Mr. Gold-
man had developed an increas-
ingly dose, if platonic relationship
Its been painful for
the family to see that what
little attention Ron’s death has
received has focused on his
fast-lane lifestyle.
with 35-year-old Nicole Brown
Simpson. The two had apparent-
ly exercised together, met for cof-
fee and dinner and made the
dance dub scene in Ms. Simpson’s
white Ferrari.
On the night of their deaths
Nicole had dined at Mezzaluna
and had accidentally left, her pre-
scription glasses behind. Mr. Gold-
man volunteered to return them
— and was stabbed 22 times as
he put up a fierce struggle. His
bloodsoaked body was found near
Ms. Simpson’s, early on June 13,
in the shrubbery outside her
townhouse on the 800 block of
South Bundy Drive.
For Mr. Goldman’s family, the
nightmare was just beginning.
Fred and Patti telephoned Rab-
bi Gary Johnson just a half hour
after they received the news:
“They were in shock, absolute
shock," the rabbi recalled.
“Our tradition tells us that you
can say nothing to comfort people
during these times; all you can do
is be with them *
*
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Shown with a group of his friends, Ronald L. Goldman, at left.
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An anguish^ ^mlly matwith th. press: Frad Goldman, lather of slain Ronald L Goldman, his
daughter, Kim and wife, Patti outside their home In Agoura Hills, CA.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 48, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 30, 1994, newspaper, June 30, 1994; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755437/m1/2/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .