Dr. James L. Goddard 1923-2009
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LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. - Dr. James L. Goddard, 86, passed away on Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, at Saddleback Hospital near his residence in Laguna Woods, following a brief illness.
Born in Alliance, Ohio, on April 24, 1923, he was the son of Frederick and Harriett Calhoun Goddard.
The family moved to Warren, where he attended elementary school through Warren G. Harding High School.
He finished his pre-med at Temple University in Philadelphia while serving in the Army during World War II.
In 1945, he married Mildred Mae Miller, and together they had three children.
In 1949, he completed his medical degree at George Washington University. Following 18 months in private medical practice in Kalida, Ohio, Dr. Goddard began a long career in public health service. He took a brief leave from 1954 to 1955 for graduate work at the Harvard School of Public Health, earning a Master's of Public Health.
Dr. Goddard headed the PHS Accident Prevention Program in Washington, D.C., from 1956 to 1959, where he helped lead the push for auto safety belts. His career in public health continued as civil air surgeon, heading the medical program in the Federal Aviation Agency for a three-year period.
In 1962, Dr. Goddard was named chief of the Communicable Disease Center in Atlanta, the youngest person at that time to hold that post.
Under the Johnson administration, HEW Secretary John Gardner appointed Dr. Goddard as commissioner of food and drugs in January 1966. The energetic commissioner was known to his staff as ''Go-Go'' Goddard.
During his tenure at FDA he reorganized the agency, lead efforts to impose stricter regulation on the pharmaceutical industry, and initiated a program to conduct efficacy reviews of some 4,000 pre-1962 drugs. From 1970 to 1972 Dr. Goddard worked in India for the Ford Foundation.
Dr. Goddard received numerous honors for his career in public service, including honorary doctorates from the Emory University and the University of Michigan, the John Jeffries Award and the Samuel Bronfman Prize of the American Public Health Association, the highest public health award in this country.
Jim Goddard enjoyed golf and bridge, and was always ready to tell a good joke.
He was preceded in death by his second wife, Marjorie Geraldine Goddard, and his sister, Gretchen G. Gaffey, a lifelong resident of Warren.
He is survived by three children, Margaret Goddard of Salt Lake City, Bruce Goddard (Amy) of Franklin, N.Y., and Tricia (Joel) Mikle of Worthington, Minn.; and two stepchildren, Bonnie Raitt of Los Angeles and David Raitt of Eukiah, Calif. There are eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
In the Ohio and Illinois area, Jim leaves behind three nieces and one nephew, Lynn Ford of Centerville, Mary Beth (William) Guffey of Warren, Shelly (Norman) Zable of Chicago and J. Brian (Carol) Gaffey of Warren.
O'Connor Mortuary, Laguna Beach, is in charge of the arrangements.
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