Willaim George Goodnow

Bill Goodnow died peacefully at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in the early morning hours of July 12, 2023, after a long illness. He was educated at the Middlesex School ('52) and Cornell University (BS '56) where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and the Kappa Beta Phi honorary society. Prior to a three-year stint of trading from his own chair on the New York Stock Exchange during the early 1960's, Mr. Goodnow served as assistant manager of the Pebble Beach Country Club, and manager of the Locust Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY, and the Lake Tahoe Ski Resort, Nevada. He also served a term as a sales executive at Eastman Kodak. He earned notoriety as a problem solver, when, during the filming of an Exxon "Put a Tiger in Your Tank" commercial at the Lake Tahoe Resort, the star Bengal tiger briefly got loose in the hotel. In 1968 Mr. Goodnow moved to Sarasota,. He founded a commercial real estate appraisal firm, Goodnow and Associates, which during Sarasota's development boom of the 70's and 80's became the largest in the city. He provided first jobs and mentoring to a many of Sarasota's aspiring young business men and women. Bill was an ardent fan from childhood of his beloved Boston Red Sox. He was a world traveler, cycler, skier, golfer, fly fisherman, and bibliophile. During his retirement years, his villa in Horizons West became a library, with extensions into public storage, and a literary salon with troop of book club members and friends visiting. He was a past member of the Yale Club of New York, the Field Club, the Oaks, Laurel Oaks, and a founding member of Gator Creek Country Club. Bill was the son of the late Walter Strickland Goodnow and Ruth Hunter Goodnow of Boston and Duxbury, Massachusetts. To his family he was referred to affectionately as their "Uncle Bull". He is survived by his beloved sister, Louise Goodnow Lamere of Sarasota, his nephews, Richard H. Lamere of Hamden, Connecticut, and Peter G. Lamere of Sarasota, his nieces Lynette L. Abrams of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Liane L. Seppala of Cohasett, Massachusetts. Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the cardiac care unit of Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

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Willaim George Goodnow

November 20, 1932 - July 12, 2023