part of that time as a field
psychologist and gunnery
officer in an artillery unit
along the northern border
in 1975.
His future wife, Susan,
was an exchange student
at Hebrew University. The
two were married in Israel
and decided to move to
New York, where Susan
could be nearer her family
and Alan could move on
with his studies in psychol-
ogy and social work.
"We gave a significant
chunk of our lives to
Israel," he said. "But when
you are sitting on the back
of a tank for days on end,
you get a chance to sort out
your priorities. We had to
get on with our own lives. I
wanted to go to the Wurz-
weiler Institute at Yeshiva
University to get my
master's degree in social
work."
The Goodmans moved
into a Queens, N.Y., base-
ment in 1982. Susan work-
ed and Alan attended
school.
One day, Mr. Goodman
saw an advertisement for a
federation executive direc-
tor in Albany; the ad ap-
peared once in the New
York Times.
The couple bought a 1971
Plymouth for $150 and
made it up to Albany,
where Mr. Goodman was
one of 80 applicants for the
position. It was an agency
made up mostly of part-
time workers.
During his seven years in
Albany, Mr. Goodman
utilized aggressive
"Most people look
at us in a funny
way. They thank
God that there is a
JFS here in Detroit,
but God forbid they
should ever have to
need us. We are
here for everyone,
though. It shouldn't
be a shanda to
come to see us."
Alan Goodman
implementation of policies
and programs to raise the
budget from about
$180,000 to nearly half a
million. His program to
improve senior housing
became a benchmark for
New York State.
"Alan Goodman remains
very missed in this com-
munity," said Albany JFS
President Linda Stern. "He
was as good a JFS ad-
ministrator as there is
anywhere. He was one of
those people who could be a
good manager and have the
support of the board and
staff as well. He did that by
translating his ideas, but
also by wanting to know
what the ideas were of his
staff members."
Mr. Goodman - describes
his seven years in Albany
as pure, hands-on work.
His office was next to the
JFS waiting room. If no one
was around to answer the
phone, Mr. Goodman
would. If a client needed
immediate help in the
waiting room, he was
there.
Mr. Goodman would even
do home visits with his
staffers just to see the type
of professional and client
challenges they faced. It is
a policy he continues in his
work here.
"I believe that each per-
son has an area where he is
going to have the greatest
impact," he said. "When I
meet and talk with staff
members here, I want to
learn where that area
might be."
After seven years in
Albany, Mr. Goodman felt
it was time to move on. He
heard of the vacancy in
Detroit, a job he wasn't
sure he could get.
"I figured I was 40 years
old; I've lived my life doing
things that I wanted to do,"
he said. "I wasn't going to
come into this job inter-
view trying to be another
Sam Lerner. I was coming
here to be myself because I
knew that nobody can do
that better than I could.
"Also, I would make it
crystal clear that the job
would not take me away
from my family. So that's
what I came here with. I
wasn't sure if they liked
me in the interview, and it
took weeks before I heard
from them. Just when I
was ready to admit to my-
self that I didn't get it, they
called me and offered it to
me."
"It wasn't an easy selec-
tion," Mr. Gold remembered.
"It took us a year.
"We were concerned that
the person be able to work
with a community and a
staff that was used to doing
things one way under Sam
Lerner for 25 years. This
was the way we always did
things around here. Alan,
though, was able to come
and take over in a manner
0
Alan Goodman:
"I don't want to talk
about what we can't do.
I want to look at what
we're doing."
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
35