In Memoriam
Richard “Dick” Goodyear
September 11, 2022
Dick Goodyear died on September 4, 2022. Below are his obituary, an article from the Andover Academy newsletter, and a remembrance from two Yale roommates. Also refer to the news story on this website regarding his role on the Andover Board of Trustees.
- Obituary, The New York Times
- Remembrance, Andover Academy website
- Remembrance by Randy Labbe ’64 and Wally Winter ’64
Obituary
The New York Times
September 11, 2022
Dick Goodyear
1964 Yale graduation
Richard Goodyear, a noted corporate counsel and executive who helped lead automaker Chrysler's recovery from bankruptcy in the 1980s, died Sunday, September 4, in his hometown of San Sebastian, Spain. He was 80.
Born December 9, 1941 in New Haven, Connecticut, Mr. Goodyear was a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School. Mr. Goodyear began his legal career with the New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton. He also worked for Occidental Petroleum in Los Angeles before joining Chrysler Corp. as general counsel.
In 1981, he worked with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and other top executives on an emergency restructuring plan to save the company from bankruptcy. Mr. Goodyear also helped lead key acquisitions for Chrysler, most notably the purchase of American Motors Corp. which brought the Jeep brand of vehicles into Chrysler's product lineup.
Dick Goodyear
in 2003
Mr. Goodyear later served as general counsel for Browning-Ferris Industries, the former Houston-based waste-handling company.
While the law was his profession, Mr. Goodyear's true passions included education, philanthropy, and literature. He attended high school at Phillips Academy, Andover and served on the school's Board of Trustees for thirteen years.
He later traveled the world, volunteering his time for international charity “Save the Children” where he served on the Board of Directors.
Mr. Goodyear was also a dedicated collector of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, and helped fund the Yale editions of Boswell's papers. He wrote a play, “An Evening with James Boswell,” which was performed by the actor Sam Waterston in New York in 1995.
He is survived by wife, Maria del Carmen Echavarren of San Sebastian, Spain; brother, Sam Goodyear of Cooperstown, New York; daughter, Sarah Goodyear of New York City; sons, Charles Goodyear of Sun Valley, Idaho, James Goodyear of Tiburon, California, and Bradley Goodyear of New York City; and eight grandchildren.
Academy mourns the loss of two board legends
Honoring Trustee Emeritus Richard Goodyear ’59 and Former Alumni Trustee Frank S. Jones ’46
Published on the Andover Academy website
September 19, 2022
The Andover community was saddened to learn of the recent deaths of Trustee Emeritus Richard Goodyear ’59, P’80, ’90, ’93, ’97, GP’24, on September 4, 2022, and former alumni trustee Frank S. Jones ’46 on August 28, 2022. Jones was the first person of color to serve on the Academy’s Board of Trustees.
Dick Goodyear, charter trustee from 1989 to 2005, was an extremely effective chair of the Academy Resources Committee, particularly during the critical years of Campaign Andover. He also led both the Parent Fund and the Andover Development Board and served with distinction as an admissions representative, career mentor, and regional association president. His philanthropy — much of it anonymous — supported numerous areas of need, including the Andover Fund, the Joshua Miner deanship, and major campus building renovations as well as several scholarship endowments.
“Andover has lost a great friend and leader in Dick Goodyear,” said former head of school Barbara Landis Chase. “Those of us who worked with Dick knew him for his quick and insightful thinking and his open and generous heart. As a trustee, he was a rational, caring, persuasive voice in board deliberations. A consummate fundraiser for Andover, Dick believed fervently in the cause, giving generously and inspiring others to do the same.”
Goodyear graduated from Yale College in 1964 and Yale Law School in 1967. After beginning his legal career with the New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton and then working for Occidental Petroleum in Los Angeles, he joined Chrysler Corp. as general counsel. In 1981, he worked with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and other top executives on an emergency restructuring plan to save the company from bankruptcy. Goodyear also helped lead key acquisitions for Chrysler, most notably the purchase of American Motors Corp.
Remembrance
Dick Goodyear: Our Renaissance Roommate
by Randy Labbe ’64 and Wally Winter ’64
September 3, 2023
[The following eulogy for Dick Goodyear by his two Yale roommates, Randy Labbe and Wally Winter, was read by Dick’s daughter Sarah on September 3, 2023, at a celebration of Dick’s life at the Goodyear family property at Cary Mede outside of Cooperstown NY, organized by Dick’s younger brother, Sam.]
Dick Goodyear was our renaissance roommate. Obituaries in The New York Times and elsewhere have described his remarkable successes as a corporate lawyer, his long-time commitment to Andover where he, his daughter, and three sons also attended, and his worldwide travels on behalf of the international charity Save the Children.
But as Dick’s two surviving roommates for two years before his marriage and move off campus, we wanted to highlight his colorful personality, rich theatrical talent, and extraordinary intellect.
Dick immediately stood out with his dry sense of humor and prankster antics. The son of a career foreign-service officer, he was fluent in five languages and multiple dialects. In our sophomore year, he connected with the Yale Dramat and excelled as a legendary character actor, drawing the attention of a New York City agent, and also pursued numerous summer-stock engagements.
We were Dick’s eager cheerleaders, attending his performances and acting as critics when he would practice his “bits” almost nightly. One such bit included an imitation of Arturo Toscanini conducting Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with such gusto that he threw his arm out. On an NYC excursion to see Fellini’s masterpiece, “La Dolce Vita,” we adjourned afterwards to discuss the film in a local bar where at one point Dick stood on his chair and imitated the famous scene where a “chicken” dances with Anita Ekberg. While we were cringing, cheers and applause erupted at nearby tables.
Dick’s marriage and the birth of his daughter Sarah while he was an undergraduate forced him to reassess his future plans. Although his college grades as a philosophy major were not stellar due to his Dramat commitments, he astutely requested the esteemed English professor Richard Sewell to write a recommendation letter for Yale Law School. Sewell admired Dick’s acting, and shared with him that he had written such letters for only four other students, all of whom had been admitted. Dick was the fifth. During his first year, Dick ended up at the head of his class.
In addition to his passion for the theater while at Yale, Dick became intensely interested in the 18th century English biographer James Boswell, whose journals were then being edited by Yale Professor Frederick Pollard. Dick became an authority on Boswell. In 1995 he authored an “An Evening with James Boswell,” an event moderated by Dick Cavett ’58 held in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Actor Sam Waterston ’62, Dick’s friend from the Yale Dramat days, performed as Boswell.
Three decades after graduation, Dick called Wally to see if he wanted to join him in a leg of an eccentric bicycle expedition to visit the highest point in every state east of the Mississippi. He hoped to document this challenge in a book entitled High Points East. After tackling Florida (345 feet), he was ready to take on Alabama (2,400 feet) at the southern end of the Appalachians. Wally, then a poverty lawyer in Chicago, signed up for a week, and the two met in Atlanta. As they pedaled through small towns, pine forests, and cotton fields, Dick recorded his observations on a tape recorder strapped to his handlebars. They would stop to eat at rustic roadside cafes along the way. Without fail, Dick would engage and entertain the customers and servers with his ebullient repartee, no doubt collecting material for his future book. Alas, Dick had better luck helping Lee Iacocca and the Chrysler Corporation avoid bankruptcy than he did completing this book project.
However, he did complete a much more impressive literary undertaking in 2016. That year, while living in Spain with his lovely and elegant wife, Carmen Echavarren Goodyear, he published his translation into English of the 1983 award-winning historical novel, General Escobar’s War, by the celebrated Spanish author Jose Luis Olaizola. The novel is based on the life of Antonio Escobar Huertas, a military general and devout Catholic, who fought in the Spanish Civil War to defend the Republic and was shot by a firing squad in 1940 by the Franco-led nationalists.
Happily, Dick was able to attend our 55th Yale reunion in 2019. The three of us and Wally’s partner, Ellen Ewing, booked a motel suite close to the campus. We had a splendid time reliving our life as roommates and, because Dick was Dick, laughing a lot. He was one of a kind. Just thinking of him makes us smile.