BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Bob and Irwin Goodman were brothers, gentlemen, businessmen and philanthropists whose legacy will likely outlive us all.
If you’ve put down roots in the Madison area for any reasonable length of time, chances are you benefitted from their massive, yet quiet, selflessness.
They lived frugally, invested wisely and steered their fortune — by way of the private non-profit Goodman Community Foundation — toward people, projects and causes they loved. Bob and Irwin were about libraries, education, physical and mental wellness, nutrition and racial harmony.
John Hayes, who began working for the Goodman’s as a salesman at their jewelry store on State Street in the early 1980s, explained the essence of their affection.
“They were in love with this city,” Hayes said. “Neither one married, but they had a love for the city like you’d love your spouse.”
The love the brothers had for the Madison area was intense and genuine, in part because they had no heirs. E.G. Schramka, a local attorney who serves as the executive director of the foundation, said $70 million has been dispensed over the lifetime of the organization. He said the range of their grants was from $1,000 to $10 million.
“It’s immeasurable the number of people that have been impacted by their giving and the foundation’s giving,” Schramka said.
Hayes said the Goodman brothers were definitely not headline-seekers.
“They did it not for notoriety or publicity,” Hayes said. “They did it because they saw something that needed to be done and took care of it. They figured out a way to make it happen
“They didn’t forget anybody. It didn’t matter what your position in society was. Everybody was equal.”
Irwin died in 2009. Bob passed away in 2010.
“Two of the kindest, most understated gentlemen you could meet,” Hayes said.
Bob and Irwin were born in Minneapolis, but they moved to Madison after Irwin, a discus-throwing track athlete at Minnesota, came here for a Big Ten Conference meet against Wisconsin and was mesmerized by the beautiful campus. Irwin moved here, eventually took over the family-owned jewelry store and Bob followed. In his spare time, Bob became known as one of the best softball players in the city.
The Goodman brothers became fans of UW Athletics. They were regulars at the Field House for boxing matches. Because of donations they made to the athletic department, they watched Badgers football games from the press box at Camp Randall Stadium.
UW has one of the best on-campus softball facilities because of Bob and Irwin. They donated $500,000 to help pay for the $1.2 million stadium that’s known, of course, as Goodman Diamond. The brothers also put $1.8 million toward the $2.3 million indoor practice facility and sponsor a softball scholarship.
That generosity helps explain why Bob and Irwin Goodman are being inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.
Contributions include, but not limited to:
- Gave more than $70 million to philanthropic causes individually or through their foundation
- Donated $5.15 million for the Goodman Softball Complex, the Goodman Indoor Softball Training Center, and improvements to both
- Donated 154 acres (worth $1.5 million) in Verona for the Goodman Jewish Community Campus; donated $600,000 to build the Goodman Aquatic Center
- Donated $2.8 million for the city of Madison’s first municipal pool
- Donated $2 million to rebuild the Atwood Community Center, which was renamed Goodman Community Center
- Gave $250,000 to start the Goodman Rotary 50+ fitness program
- Paid for construction of three-mile jogging path along Lake Monona
- Donated $1 million for the Goodman Pitch at Reddan Park and improvements thereto
- Donated $6.7 million for the Goodman Sports Complex and $1.2 million for the Goodman Athletic Complex
- Helped build an adaptive ice rink for disabled skaters with a $1.2 million donation
- Gave more than $7 million to the United Way of Dane County
- Donated $2.5 million to the Bayview Foundation for its Community Center
- Provided numerous donations for scholarships and nutrition programs
https://uwbadgers.com/honors/uw-athletic-hall-of-fame/irwin-a-and-robert-d-goodman/305
