Yale University

In Memoriam

William H. D. Goddard

Bill Goddard died on October 1, 2020. Below are:


Obituary

Providence Journal

October 11, 2020


Bill Goddard
Yale undergraduate

William H. D. (Bill) Goddard, age 78, passed away peacefully on October 1, 2020 from lung cancer diagnosed in December 2017.

Bill was born in Providence on September 24, 1942. He is survived by his wife Katharine Wright (Ferris) Goddard to whom he was married for 52 years; his daughter Charlotte Ives Goddard and her husband Carl Martin Swanson; his sister, Margaret G. Leeson and her husband Rob (of South Kingstown); three brothers: R. H. Ives Goddard (of Washington DC), Thomas P. I. Goddard and his wife Lisa (of Newport), and Moses B. I. Goddard and his wife Joan (of Tiverton); as well as many nieces and nephews.

Bill was the son of the late Robert Hale Ives Goddard and Hope Linton (Drury) Goddard of Providence.


Bill Goddard
in later years

From an early age, Bill showed a propensity for art. He attended Moses Brown, graduated from St. George's, spent a year at Yale University and a year at the Rhode Island School of Design before enlisting in the military. He attended the U.S. Army School in Europe and was part of the 13th Psychological Warfare Battalion where his artistic talents proved to be of significant value.

Upon his return from Germany he attended Boston University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1970. Bill also began competing in SCCA auto racing in the northeast, becoming G Production class champion before retiring.

He was a firearms enthusiast from a young age and excelled on the pistol team while in basic training at Fort Bragg. He became an expert in the field of semi-automatic pistols and authored The Government Models: The Development of the Colt Model of 1911. He also served as a technical expert and expert witness in numerous court cases.

Bill was a Partner in and the Operating Manager of Brown & Ives Land Company, LLC until his death. Additionally, he was a Director of the Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank; Chairman and CEO of Cadre Technologies, Inc.; a Director of the Providence Investors Corporation; and President and Treasurer of Warwick Land Company.

Bill dedicated a large part of his life to public service and was a Trustee of the Rhode Island Hospital; the General Campaign Chairman of the United Way of Southeastern New England (1981); Chairman of the Providence Rhode Island Municipal Port Commission; Vice Chairman and Director of the Lifespan Corporation; and a member of the Lifespan Investment Committee for 20 years, serving as Chairman for part of that time. During Rhode Island's banking crisis, Governor Sundlun appointed Bill as Vice Chairman of the Depositors Economic Protection Corporation (DEPCO). He was a Director of the Providence Industrial Development Corporation and served on the Board of Managers of the Providence YMCA and on the boards of The Jackson Laboratory in Maine and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Bill truly enjoyed his numerous friends and colleagues and would have been honored to have them at his service. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, burial with military honors was private.

Remembrance by Stu Sharp ’64

December 20, 2020

Bill Goddard spent only one year at Yale.  I remember him well, we shared the same entryway in Farnam. Our freshman year saw John Kennedy elected and inaugurated as President, which was of special interest to me, coming as I did from Jamaica. Bill told me Kennedy had been having an affair with a Radcliffe student, and that Jackie had threatened to divorce him, both of which I later found out to be true, so Bill was obviously well connected!

For Spring break 1961 I and two classmates traveled as passengers in Bill’s car, destination Florida. The plan was for Bill to drop me off in South Carolina at the junction of the highway between Charleston and Atlanta, from where I would travel on to visit my aunt in Marietta. Around 4:00am the engine suddenly stopped working, on the I-95 close to Fayetteville NC. It impressed me that Bill took it all in his stride, he waited until dawn, then used battery power to move the car off the interstate into a school parking lot, where the police found us and ordered us a tow truck. From Fayetteville I traveled by bus to Atlanta which took until 9:15pm to reach, what an adventure!

Reading Bill’s impressive obituary on the Class website, I can attest to his passion for firearms because he brought one to Yale and dutifully consigned it to the Yale Police Department. Reviewing the impressive list of organizations he served and led, he certainly lived a full life.