John Bligh
- Retired teacher
- Chapter leader
Kathi Goldman, a high school biology and chemistry teacher for 25 years, a former UFT chapter leader and a longtime girls softball coach, died on Sept. 3, 2023, after a 16-month battle with cancer. She was 80.
Kathi, who grew up in the Bronx and Scarsdale, taught and coached the girls softball team at Grace H. Dodge Career and Technical HS in the Bronx, which closed in 2015. She retired in 1996.
Her son, Jonathan Goldman, said Kathi developed close mentor-mentee relationships with many students at the school. “It is a testament to her impact that many of these students would call to update her on their lives for many years after graduation,” he said.
Narice West, one of Kathi’s former students, said Kathi played a transformative role in her life. West, who graduated in 1984, said Kathi taught biology in a way that was accessible and understandable. Moreover, West said, she offered “that kind of caring, that type of really guiding someone’s life without being forceful, without saying, ‘You have to do it this way,'” West said. “And she asked for nothing in return.”
Kathi urged West to apply to colleges rather than sign up for the military, and when West struggled with a math class when she was at the City College of New York, Kathi tutored her and helped her pass.
“She was coaching me not just for education, but as a human being, to grow up and have the kind of life you want to have,” said West, now a retired detective sergeant with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The two stayed in touch and kept up with milestones in one another’s lives. “God has angels in this world, and she was one of them,” West said.
Marjorie Trachtenberg, a close friend and former colleague, said Kathi was a fun and creative teacher “and the kids loved her.”
Trachtenberg said Kathi had many roles at Dodge and did them all well – teacher, UFT chapter leader, mentor and after-school girls softball coach and adviser.
Kathi worked well with her colleagues. “She could always — whether she was the UFT rep or not — go between administration and staff, any staff and students, and she would call it like she saw it,” Trachtenberg said.
The two were both biology teachers when they started working together. Trachtenberg later became an assistant principal, a job Kathi had urged her to seek. Kathi was one of the master teachers whose classrooms Trachtenberg would send new teachers so they could observe and learn.
“She really cared, and she had the biggest smile in the world so she was totally approachable,” Trachtenberg said.
Outside the classroom, Kathi ran for district leader as an advocate for middle-income housing. She was a member of the parent-teacher associations at her children’s schools and volunteered at the American Museum of Natural History. She was an avid birder and outdoor sports enthusiast who led volunteer kayaking expeditions in retirement.
In the final chapter of her life, being a grandmother was Kathi’s “greatest joy and greatest role,” her son said.
Kathi is survived by her husband Lawrence Goldman; her children, Jonathan and Carolyn Goldman; her daughter-in-law, Jamie Favaro; and her grandchildren, Anya and Nicole Berg, and Charlotte and Dava Goldman.
Kathi’s family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Linnaean Society of New York and the American Littoral Society, two conservation groups.
