Leon Goldman (1904–1975)

Goldman was born to a Jewish family in 1904 in San Francisco, California, one of eleven children born to immigrants from Poland.[3] His father, Samuel Galleorivich, changed his name to Goldman[4] and worked in the oil industry.[3] Goldman was raised in Taft, California, where he graduated from Taft Union High School in 1922.[5] In 1926, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.[3] In 1930, he graduated with an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, after which he did his post-doctoral studies under Howard Christian Naffziger.[3]

After the completion of his residency in 1935, he was appointed as instructor at San Francisco County Hospital where Harold Brunn was chief surgical resident.[3] In 1939, he earned a fellowship in gastrointestinal physiology with Andrew Ivey.[3] In 1939, he returned to work under Brunn.[3] In 1945, he was named associate professor and chief of surgical service.[3] In 1949, he was named full professor.[3] He was the first Jewish professor at the University of California, San Francisco medical school.[6] In 1953, he was named vice chairman of the Department of Surgery and chairman in 1956; also in 1956, he was named associate dean of the School of Medicine where he served until 1963.[2]

He served as president of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association and as first vice president of the American Surgical Association and the American College of Surgeons.[2]

Goldman was married to Betty Rosenburg, a former model.[7] Her family was from Saint Petersburg, Russia;[7] and while they were of German-Jewish ancestry,[4] they practiced the Russian Orthodox faith, as was required for Jews residing in Saint Petersburg.[7][8] Goldman suffered from Crohn's disease.[3] His wife suffered from post-concussion syndrome.[4] He was affectionately known as the "Coach" by his students.[3]