Joel Alan Goldberg

Joel Alan Goldberg was born in New York City on May 14, 1943. He was extremely proud of having grown up in Brooklyn, NY, where he played basketball in the P.S. 230 schoolyard and went to Erasmus Hall High School. He received his B.A. from City College of New York and an M.S. in library science from Pratt University. He worked as a librarian in New York City and then travelled extensively in Europe and South America before making Santa Barbara his home in 1974. He continued his library career in California and retired from the Ventura County libraries in 2001. Joel was a devotee of music (jazz, blues, rock, classical), theater (which he indulged by ushering at the Granada and other local performance spaces), movies (no Hollywood, please), and art. He was an ardent supporter of Santa Barbara artists and surrounded himself with the color and beauty of their work. Joel was born and raised a progressive and he worked for social justice and to help those in need in big and small ways too numerous to list here. Joel loved baseball and basketball and he remained true to his New York heritage as a Yankees and Knicks fan. He closely followed the exploits of the players. Not content with “professional” views on player performance, Joel developed his own analytical system and prepared personal statistical abstracts. That he found numbers to be significant was not a surprise to those who knew him longest since as a small child, he was known to read the New York telephone books. He had a similar affinity for words, as anyone who tried to do a crossword puzzle alongside him will attest. He is survived by his sister, Lesley Goldberg of New York, NY, and numerous loving cousins and friends. We will remember Joel for his smile, his wit, his wide-ranging intelligence and curiosity, his generosity, kindness and empathy, and his passion for social justice. He is in our hearts always. Contributions in his memory may be made to any one of the following organizations: Santa Barbara Food Bank, 4554 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara, CA 93110 (805) 967-5741, ext. 104; Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, 915 N. Milpas Street, 2nd Floor, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, (805) 617-7850; Fund for Santa Barbara, 26 W. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, (805) 962-9164; Doctors Without Walls – Santa Barbara Street Medicine, PO Box 3751, Santa Barbara, CA 93103; or Catholic Charities of Santa Barbara, 609 East Haley Street, Santa Barbara CA 93103, (805) 965-7045.