Ronald Goldman

For the psychologist, see Ronald Goldman (psychologist). For the mathematician, see Ron Goldman (mathematician).
Ronald Goldman

Ronald Goldman, early 1990s
Born Ronald Lyle Goldman
(1968-07-02)July 2, 1968
Cook County, Illinois
Died June 12, 1994(1994-06-12) (aged 25)
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California
Cause of death Stab wounds to the neck, chest and abdomen[1]
Resting place Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park
Residence Los Angeles, California
Other names Ron Goldman
Education Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Alma mater Illinois State University, Los Angeles Pierce College
Occupation Waiter
Known for O. J. Simpson murder trial (alleged victim)
Home town Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Religion Jewish
Parent(s) Fred Goldman,
Sharon Rufo

Ronald Lyle "Ron" Goldman (July 2, 1968 – June 12, 1994) was an American waiter who was killed along with Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994 at her Brentwood, Los Angeles home, leading to the criminal investigation and arrest of former American NFL player turned actor O. J. Simpson. Simpson was acquitted of the murders but was later found liable for Goldman's death in a civil trial.

Early life

Goldman grew up in an affluent community in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. His parents divorced in 1974 when he was six and, after spending a brief time in the custody of his mother, Sharon Rufo, he was raised by his father, Fred Goldman, and lived with him and his younger sister, Kim Goldman.[2]

Goldman grew up Jewish.[3][4] He attended high school at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. He was a student at Illinois State University for one semester (where he planned to major in psychology) and a pledge to Sigma Nu fraternity before he followed his family to southern California at age 18.[5]

When younger, Goldman had worked as a camp counselor and had volunteered to help disabled children.[6][7]

In California

While living in Los Angeles, Goldman took some classes at Pierce College.[6] He learned to surf and enjoyed playing beach volleyball, rollerblading, nightclubbing,[8] and working out at a trendy gym. He neither drank nor took drugs, and adhered to a low-fat diet.[6]

Upon arriving in California (where he lived independently from his family), Goldman first supported himself by working as an employment headhunter and tennis instructor, and then worked a string of waiter jobs.[6] He also occasionally did work as a model for Barry Zeldes, owner of Z90049 (the store next to the California Pizza Kitchen in Brentwood Gardens where Goldman had worked before Mezzaluna).[5] Not long before his death, he had earned an Emergency Medical Technician's license but decided not to pursue that career.[6]

Instead, he told friends that he wanted to open a bar or restaurant in the Brentwood area.[6] He had shared with friends his vision of opening a future restaurant or bar characterized not by a name, but by the ankh (an Egyptian religious symbol of life that matched the tattoo on his shoulder).[5] According to his friend Jeff Keller, Goldman wanted to learn all facets of the restaurant-bar business, and occasionally worked as a promoter,[5] at a Century City dance club called Tripps[6] and for Memorial Day, participated with a group of event promoters in organizing a party at Renaissance, a club and restaurant on the Santa Monica Promenade.[5]

Goldman had also expressed aspirations to act and to be on a show, and he appeared as a contestant on the short-lived game show Studs in 1992.[9]

Prior relationship to Nicole Simpson

According to a June 15, 1994 Los Angeles Times article from three days after his murder, Goldman probably met Nicole Brown Simpson prior to May 1994 (when he borrowed her Ferrari alone). They grew increasingly close, accompanying one another to dance clubs, and meeting for coffee and dinner during the month and a half prior to their murders. According to police and friends, their relationship was a platonic one of friendship only. According to the article, Goldman had borrowed Brown's Ferrari six weeks prior, when he met his friend, Craig Clark, for lunch. According to Clark, Goldman told him it was Nicole Simpson's car, but that he did not say she was his girlfriend. "He said they were friends".[10]

Death

At the time he was murdered on the evening of Sunday, June 12, 1994, Goldman had a job as a waiter at Mezzaluna Trattoria, a restaurant located at 11750 San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles. Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of O. J. Simpson, had called there to report that her mother, Juditha Brown, had accidentally left her eyeglasses on the table.[10] After a quick search, they were discovered in the gutter outside the restaurant. Although Goldman had not served Nicole's table, he agreed to take them to her home after work.

Before returning the glasses, Goldman stopped at his apartment located at 11663 Gorham Avenue in Brentwood. He had after-work plans with his friend Stewart Tanner, Mezzaluna's bartender, who said, "He was going to go home and change and then we were going to go out." The Los Angeles Times reports, "Goldman punched out at 9:33 p.m. and stayed another 15 minutes to have a bottled water at the bar. Then he left, still in his uniform, black pants and white shirt, his tie shed. He carried the glasses that Simpson wanted returned to her. 'I'll see you later,' he called to Tanner as he walked out."[5]

When Goldman arrived at Brown's residence, located at 875 South Bundy Drive, he was stabbed to death along with her on the walkway leading to the residence. He was just a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday.[5] During a reconstruction of the events, the police came to believe he had arrived during or shortly after her murder and was stabbed to death. His body was found shortly after midnight, when police arrived at the crime scene.

Goldman is buried at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California.[11][12]

Trials and aftermath

O.J. Simpson was tried for the murders of both Nicole and Goldman. In October 1995, after a public trial that lasted nearly nine months, he was acquitted of both murders. In a 1997 civil trial, a jury found him liable for the wrongful death of Goldman and awarded $19.5 million in damages to the Goldman family.

The rights to O. J. Simpson's book, If I Did It, a first-person account of how he would have committed the murders, had he committed them, were awarded to the Goldman family in August 2007. They were granted the proceeds from the book in 2007 as part of the $33.5 million civil jury award against him they had been trying to collect for over a decade. They own the copyright, media rights and movie rights.[13]

They also acquired Simpson's name, likeness, life story and right of publicity in connection with the book, according to court documents, ensuring he would not be able to profit from the book. After renaming the book If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, the Goldmans published it in September 2007 through Beaufort Books.[14]

The Goldman family contributed a portion of proceeds from the If I Did It book sale to the newly founded Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice.[15] The foundation provides grants for multiple organizations and programs that provide resources to victims and survivors of violent crimes.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Turvey, Brent E. (February 1995). "An Overview of the Medicolegal Evidence Regarding: The State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, Case: BA097211". Knowledge Solutions, LLC.
  2. ↑ Carla Hall; Greg Krikorian (February 2013). "Dreams of Better Days Died That Night: Ronald Goldman: A young man was finding his way through the maze of L.A.". Los Angeles Times. p. 2.
  3. ↑ May, Tim (May 29, 1995). "A Year of Mourning : Gravestone for Ron Goldman Unveiled". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  4. ↑ Tugend, Tom (October 6, 1995). "After O.J. acquittal, rabbi urges Jews to look within". Jweekly. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hall, Carla; Krikorian, Greg (July 3, 1994). "Dreams of Better Days Died That Night: Ronald Goldman: A young man was finding his way through the maze of L.A.". Los Angeles Times. pp. 2–3.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mosk, Matthew; Hall, Carla (June 15, 1994). "Victim Thrived on Life in Fast Lane, His Friends Recall". The Los Angeles Times.
  7. ↑ Family of Ron Goldman, with William Hoffer and Marilyn Hoffer (1997). His Name is Ron: Our Search for Justice. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-688-15117-1.
  8. ↑ Hall, Carla; Krikorian, Greg (July 3, 1994). "Dreams of Better Days Died That Night: Ronald Goldman: A young man was finding his way through the maze of L.A.". Los Angeles Times. p. 4. Retrieved February 2013.
  9. ↑ Vito, Bob (January 1, 1995). "Ronald Goldman: July 2, 1968 - June 12, 1994". CNN. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  10. 1 2 Mosk, Matthew, Hall, Carla (June 15, 1994). "Victim Thrived on Life in Fast Lane, His Friends Recall". Los Angeles Times.
  11. ↑ Melcon, Mel (February 5, 1997). "Ronald Goldman". Getty Images.
  12. ↑ "Ronald Goldman". findagrave.com. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  13. ↑ Timothy Noah (November 22, 2006). "Defending If I Did It". Slate. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
  14. ↑ The Goldman Family (Author), Dominick Dunne (Afterword), Pablo F. Fenjves (Foreword) (September 13, 2007). If I Did It Confessions of the Killer (1 ed.). Beaufort Books. ISBN 0825305888.
  15. ↑ "Denise Brown wants O. J. book boycott". USA Today. August 14, 2007
  16. ↑ Deutsch, Linda (June 17, 2014). "Figures in the O.J. Simpson Saga Have Moved On". U.S. News & World Report.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.