Huntington Leaders Dedicacate Garden in Memory of Arthur Goldstein

A garden at Crab Meadow Beach has been dedicated in memory of longtime community leader Arthur Goldstein, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 79.

Over a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors, Goldstein served as Huntington Town attorney and counsel for the South Huntington Public Library. He founded the Huntington Narcotics Guidance Council, the Townwide Fund and Leadership Huntington; served in leadership positions at the Huntington Chamber Foundation, the Heckscher Museum and the Huntington YMCA; and was instrumental in creating the Gurwin Jewish Geriatric Center, Touro Law School and the Dolan Family Health Center.

“He dealt from his heart in every situation,” Supervisor Frank Petrone told the approximately 75 people who attended the Oct. 24 event. “He was a person who never felt something was a crisis. He always made it work, and for all of us here assembled, he was our chicken soup, because he solved so many of these problems, made you feel good and brought you forward.”

“My dad was a community leader, a trusted advisor and a friend to so many. Also a mentor, a father, a husband, a father in law, a grandfather, a partner and great listener,” Goldstein’s son, Ron, said. “He helped start Leadership Huntington so that our Town would have future leaders. He helped initiate the Dolan Center so that no one in our Town would have to go without the ability to see a doctor. He helped start Gurwin so that he elderly would have a safe and protective environment in which they could spend their last years. Though we miss him, I think that many of those assembled still feel his presence is with us.”

At the event, Petrone and members of the Town Council unveiled a memorial plaque, which notes notes, “He will be remembered as a legal scholar, a philanthropist and a great humanitarian who touched the lives of many.”

Also speaking at the ceremony were Rabbi Neil Kurshan of the Huntington Jewish Center; Libby Hubbard, from the Leadership Huntington Foundation; Ron Gaudreault, on behalf of Huntington Hospital, which runs the Dolan Center; and Herb Friedman, on behalf of Gurwin. Council Members Mark Cuthbertson, Susan A. Berland and Tracey A. Edwards participated in the unveiling.

The plaque and the stone on which it sits were donated to the town by a memorial committee chaired by Ken Christensen. There was no cost to the town.