In Memoriam: Lillian Rachel Goodman, 1923-2018

Lillian Goodman, former professor and dean of the Graduate School of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, died late last month in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She was 94 years old.

A native of Hanover, New Hampshire, Dr. Goodman was one of 13 children in her family. She attended the University of Michigan briefly and then completed nursing training at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital School of Nursing in Boston. She later earned bachelor’s and master’s degree in nursing and an educational doctorate from Boston University.

After serving for six years as assistant chief of psychiatric nurses for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Dr. Goodman joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1969. She was named acting dean of the nursing school in 1970.

Three years later, Dr. Goodman left the University of Massachusetts to establish the Department of Nursing at what is now Worcester State University. That nursing department is now named in Dr. Goodman’s honor.

In 1991, Dr. Goodman was appointed professor and dean of the Graduate School of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. She retired in 1999.