Melvin Goldman, 86, passed away on January 11, 2023, at his home in Hillsborough, CA after a several-months long illness. He was surrounded in his final days by his entire adoring family and a box of his favorite cigars he spent the last year looking at but never smoking.
Mel was born in Chicago on August 9, 1936, to Joe and Frieda Goldman. Mel grew up in the Humboldt Park area and attended Roosevelt High School. He was a member of the Chevrons at Roosevelt, a social group of two dozen friends he stayed closely connected with his entire life. Mel was a graduate of DePaul University (B.S., 1958), Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., 1961) and Stanford Law School (L.L.M., 1963). It was at Stanford in Palo Alto, CA where Mel met his beloved wife, Bonnie Goldman, a Stanford undergrad, for whom he gave up Chicago and moved to San Francisco, and to whom he would be lovingly married to for 59 years, until the time of his death.
Admitted to the Bar in both Illinois and California, Mel spent almost his entire legal career at the San Francisco law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP. At "MoFo", Mel specialized in Securities Litigation and Antitrust Litigation, an area in which he quickly became a national expert. In what he considered a great honor, Mel served as the President of the Bar Association of San Francisco in 1995. Throughout his legal career he took perhaps his greatest pride in mentoring and teaching younger attorneys. Mel served for decades as a senior partner at MoFo as it grew into a modern, diverse, and highly respected firm worldwide.
Mel was first and foremost a family man. He was husband to his dear Bonnie Goldman, father to the late Phillip and his wife Susan, the late Alexa, Tyler and his wife Elaine, Colin and his wife Gillian, and the great blessing of nine grandchildren: Sydney, Samson, Josephine, Jesse, Alexa, Abigail, Sawyer, Tate, and Dutch. Mel was younger brother to the late Norman Goldman and brother-in-law to Cherie and beloved cousin to the late Sgt. Phillip York whom he considered a brother. In addition to his own late parents Joe and Frieda, Mel was the son-in-law to the late William Goldman Jr and Stella Goldman and brother-in-law to the late William Goldman III, all of San Francisco.
Mel was an avid 49ers and Stanford football fan, the former of which brought him great joy in the last several years. In 2010, 2012, and 2014 he three-peated by predicting the San Francisco Giants would "do nothing again this season". He's perhaps the only Chronicle reader to ever believe Glenn Dickey was a genius.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the "PTS Israel Alexa Paige Goldman Scholarship" c/o Peninsula Temple Sholom, 1655 Sebastian Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010 or "SMHS Alexa Paige Goldman Memorial Scholarship" c/o San Mateo High School, 506 North Delaware Street, San Mateo, CA 94401.
Funeral service to be held at 1:00 Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma.
A livestream of the funeral service is available to view at https://www.viewlogies.net/sinai/VuWI5M_y4?pin=225078
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