Lionel Goodman

Lionel Goodman, a longtime resident and active member of the community of Princeton, passed away on May 17, 2023, at the age of 96. He was an emeritus professor of physical chemistry at Rutgers University.

Lionel was born on April 23, 1927, in Far Rockaway, NY, and was the son of William and Theodora Goodman. He earned his undergraduate degree from NYU, where he met his wife, Ruth Sandhouse. They married shortly after his honorable discharge from the Navy in WWII. 

Lionel received his master’s degree from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Iowa State University. He taught at Penn State and Rutgers after post-doctoral work at Florida State University. Lionel and Ruth eventually settled in Princeton, NJ, in 1966 where they raised two children, Steve and Debbie.

Lionel was a Guggenheim Fellow for his work on why molecules have the shape that they have, using laser spectroscopy. He received the Rutgers College Outstanding Teacher Award in 1987 and the Board of Trustees Outstanding Research Award in 1989. He has written numerous scientific papers — several of which have been referenced more than 50,000 times. 

After his retirement, Lionel took an interest in photography and over the past 20 years has had several one-man shows, most recently at Plainsboro Library. He has received awards for his people-oriented photographs from prestigious institutions such as Phillips’ Mill, the Salmagundi Club in NYC, Perkins Art Center, and his photograph “About to Depart” hangs in the Johnson and Johnson Art Museum. He also served as Program Chairman of the Princeton Photography Club for four years.

Lionel is predeceased by his wife Ruth in 2015 and is survived by his dear friend and companion Susan Fox; son Steve; daughter Debbie; five grandchildren — Justin, Jessica, Sarah, Sydney, and Joey; and two great-grandchildren — Catherine and Ruthie.

Lionel will be remembered by all who knew him as a tenacious and inquisitive person who lived life to its fullest, as well as for his love of travel and good food. We will miss his sense of humor and professorial
explanations.

A celebration of his life will be held at his residence on Monday, May 29 from 3-6 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Rutgers University Foundation. 

Photo courtesy of John O’Boyle.

Arrangements are by the Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, Pennington. Condolences are welcome at wilsonapple.com.

———

Lucinda Porter

Lucinda Christian Porter was born in Syracuse, New York, on September 22, 1942. She grew up in the Sedgwick section of Syracuse, summering at Skaneateles Lake and Manasquan, New Jersey. She attended Miss Halls School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts, University of Colorado (BA), and University of Denver in Denver, Colorado (MA). 

As part owner of Harmon’s Landing Farm in Snow Hill, Maryland, she operated Oceanside Farm raising Polled Hereford cattle, bred from animals at Dan Story’s LS Ranch in Corsicana, Texas. Some of her awards included Grand Champion Female-J.C.Anxiety Miss70 at the Maryland State Fair, Grand Champion Bull-O Kojack at the West Virginia State Fair and Maryland State Fair, and Junior and Reserve Grand Champion at the Eastern National Livestock Show. 

She spent three months in the Peoples Republic of China, just after President Richard Nixon’s visit there, as part of a delegation from the Agriculture Department exchanging ideas of animal husbandry. 

In 1978 Lucinda moved to Princeton, New Jersey. She became an active member of the Present Day Club, Women’s College Club, Dogwood Garden Club, and the Nassau Presbyterian Church. 

She was an active real estate agent with Princeton Crossroads which merged with GloriaNilson, which later became part of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. 

She was an avid golfer, winning the Ladies Handicap tournament at Springdale Golf Club. She was also an avid bridge player. 

Lucinda loved traveling and traveled all over the world. But her heart was always at the sea shores, from the Jersey Shore to Assateague to the beaches on the East Coast of Florida. 

She returned to Fayetteville, New York, in 2018 to her home on Spyglass Lane to tend her gardens along with her beloved cat Cio Cio San and to be with the family she loved, brother William W. Porter, niece Melissa Porter, and nephew William W. Porter Jr. 

Lucinda was and will always be a very unusual person.