George Gerald Goodrich

GEORGE GERALD GOODRICH passed away on April 4, 2025. He was 84 years old.

George was a long-time resident of Bath Township.

He is survived by his wife, Elaina (Hartman) of 57 years, his mother, Elizabeth (Moran), his son, Grant (Carina VanVliet), daughter Wendy (Juan Paul Morales), brother Mike, and sisters Sue Earick (Marc- dec; Tommy Arnone - partner) and Carolyn, grandchildren Eva, Nathan, and Lucas Morales and Gabriel Goodrich. He was preceded in death by his father, George J (1973), his sister, Marilyn (Meg) Stefancic (1990), and brother Ted (2024).

George was born at Booth Memorial hospital (a Salvation Army hospital) in Cleveland, Ohio in 1940 and lived on the east side of Cleveland in the Euclid Park district until 1948, when the family, which by then included Meg and Ted, moved to Geneva, Ohio, to live with his aunt and uncle, Ruth and Dick Robbins on their 150-acre dairy farm while his father was recovering from a heart attack. In addition to raising cows, pigs, several horses, and a rotating flock of approximately 300 chickens, they bred, raised and sold AKC collie puppies. He learned, at an early age, that farming was a lot of hard work and required long hours every day to complete the daily chores. He attended Platt R. Spencer grade school in Geneva from 1948 until 1953.

In 1953 the family, including newborn, Mike, moved back to the old neighborhood in Cleveland. They lived in a rented, three bedroom house. George attended Christ the King elementary school in East Cleveland. They lived next door to the major seminary for the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.

In the fall of 1955, he entered Eymard Preparatory Seminary of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament in Hyde Park, NY, where he began his studies for the priesthood. He left Eymard in the summer of 1959 and returned to live in Cleveland. While he had physically left the seminary, that experience laid the foundation for his spiritual growth and devotion to the Catholic faith, which continued throughout his life.

After returning home in 1959, he started a full-time job as a turret lathe operator machining plastic, a new product line, at Victoreen Instrument Company on the corner of East 59th street and Hough Avenue in Cleveland. He also attended Max Hayes trade school on Cleveland’s west side, to begin his training to become a tool and die maker.

In the fall of 1960, George enrolled at John Carroll University as a full-time student while still working the 3 to midnight shift at Victoreen. He worked in the maintenance department on weekends doing electrical, plumbing and flooring assignments. During his senior year at John Carroll, he worked for a local CPA firm. He was graduated from John Carroll in 1964, with a BSBA degree in business, with a major in accounting. He was hired by Arthur Andersen & Co to begin his career in public accounting in the tax department.

Following graduation, he joined the US Army and served his basic training at Fort Knox, Ky. He returned home in December 1964, and began his career at Andersen, which lasted 37 years.

George married Elaina Hartman in July 1967. Ten months later, in May, 1968, he received an “involuntary order to active duty” notice from the Army, and reported for active duty at Fort Knox, KY., in June, 1968. He was assigned for training at Schofield Barracks, HI. Since further deployment at that time was uncertain, he obtained post housing and Elaina joined him to live in Hawaii. In September 30-day orders began to be issued for deployment to Vietnam. George received his deployment orders in December 1968, and left Hawaii for Vietnam in February 1969. His rank was E-4, his MOS was infantry (he was targeted to be a “tunnel rat” due to his size). However, upon arrival at the 90th replacement depot, he was reassigned to 1st Logistical Command in Long Binh, Vietnam, near Saigon, where he served until August, 1969. His rank upon discharge from active duty was E-5.

He returned to civilian life in September 1969, and he and Elaina moved into an apartment in “old” Brooklyn, on Cleveland’s west side. He resumed his career at Andersen in October 1969.

George was promoted to Tax Manager in July 1971.

In September 1972, George and Elaina moved into their first home in Seven Hills, Ohio.

They had two children. Grant was born in 1972, and their daughter, Wendy, was born in 1974.

George stated that if all he was going to do at Andersen was preparing tax returns, he would have left the business upon returning from Vietnam. He saw his role being a trusted business advisor as a tax consultant. George developed expertise in the fields of Mergers and Acquisitions as well as International Tax, and soon became called upon to provide consulting services to Andersen clients and non-clients needing that expertise, He became a member of those firmwide specialty teams. He developed contacts with international investment banking firms and law firms. He provided tax and business consulting services to companies that retained him including companies located in London, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Milan, Geneva, Tokyo, Adelaide, and Perth.

In 1976, George was admitted to the partnership at Arthur Andersen & Co. In 1982, he was named Head of Tax in the Cleveland office, and in 1990, he was named managing partner of the Cleveland office, while continuing to serve clients. He also was a Tax Practice Director for the Central region and the international tax practice.

In September 1979, the family moved to Bath Township.

In 1996, he gave up his role as managing partner for the Cleveland office and devoted his time to firm-wide activities and advising clients. In September 1999, he was named Director of Global Taxes and Assistant Treasurer of Andersen Worldwide, overseeing the tax matters for the Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting business units.

George retired from Andersen Worldwide on August 31, 2001. However, in 2002, he was retained by the firm to review the Firm’s involvement with the tax aspects of its client, Enron, and to prepare a report, under privilege, for use in the congressional hearings being undertaken at that time.

In September 2003, he joined the faculty at John Carroll University as an Executive in Residence. He taught an advanced tax course for seniors, as well as an international tax course for graduate students.

George served on the board of directors of Shiloh Industries.

George also served on the boards and committees of several local not for profit entities, including the Buckeye District Boy Scouts, United Way of Cleveland, the finance committee for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, ACE (Adult Catholic Education), John Carroll University board of directors as well as the business school advisory board, and the Accounting Advisory board for the University of Akron. He and Elaina also provided financial support to many not-for-profit entities, including veterans’ organizations, humane societies, universities, United Way, Catholic Charities, and several religious groups.

George was a frequent lecturer on tax matters for the Tax Executives Institute, the CWRU /University of Western Ontario annual international tax symposium, and the University of Akron annual national tax conference.

George had several diverse hobbies. He was an avid reader of the classics, an interest he acquired while in the seminary at Eymard. However, he has had a special fondness for Dante’s Divine Comedy, as well as Virgil’s Aenid. Every year during Lent, he would read passages from the Divine Comedy, so as to finish The Paradiso on Easter. He also read extensively about ancient pre-Christian religions, as well as current non-Christian religions and often engaged in dialogues about those religions with fellow travelers during travels abroad.

He had a large collection of model trains and enjoyed attending various model train shows. He also enjoyed travelling on trains, beginning at an early age in the 1940s when his uncles used to let him ride in the steam engines in the switching yards at Sharon Steel. Later he enjoyed many train trips, including the annual trips from Cleveland to Hyde Park, NY to attend Eymard; the Rocky Mountaineer from Banff to Vancouver, BC; Glasgow to Edinburg, Scotland; Leningrad to Moscow; Helsinki to Moscow; Agra to New Delhi; Eastern Orient Express-Bangkok to Singapore; the Orient Express from Istanbul to Venice; Melbourne to Adelaide; Tokyo to Osaka on the bullet train, and the “ Chunnel” from London to Paris.

He and Elaina enjoyed tent camping, including in the provincial campgrounds from Ontario through the Maritime provinces on their honeymoon, and later, they stayed at campgrounds throughout the U.S. with Grant and Wendy and their dogs. They raised six Samoyed dogs over 46 years. George often stated that all he wanted for an obituary was to say that he was good to his dogs. They also enjoyed sailing their small sailboat on Lake Erie as well as on the inland lakes and reservoirs. They chartered the 54’ schooner, Malabar VIII in the Virgin Islands with another couple, and later, took a sailing cruise on the “Amazing Grace” throughout the Caribbean.

They also enjoyed travelling throughout the world, to include Scotland, most of Europe, South America, Russia, India, Cambodia, Thailand, China, Haiti, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Antarctica, Tahiti, Easter Island, with particular emphasis on ancient kingdoms such as the pyramids in Egypt, Christian sites in Israel, Petra in Jordan, Ankor Wat in Cambodia, and the Maya and Inca ruins in South America. George also travelled involuntarily to Vietnam! George valued the contacts that he developed with his fellow Andersen partners during many of his travels abroad, as well as experiencing the diverse cultures of those destinations. Of special mention was the opportunity to attend Mass in such locations as Notre dame Cathedral, the Vatican, and Easter Island with its Polynesian influence.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Victor Church, 3435 Everett Rd. Richfield, Ohio, on THURSDAY, April 10, 2025, at 10:30 AM. Friends may call WEDNESDAY at the Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel, 85 N. Miller Rd. Fairlawn, OH 44333 from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM and on THURSDAY at the church from 9:30 AM until the start of the service.

Burial will take place at Moore’s Chapel cemetery, Bath Township.

Memorial contributions in George's name are suggested to Bath Community Park Playground, https://www.bathtownship.org/ See "Get Involved" section for ways to donate. 

Services in care of the Billow Funeral Homes and Crematory, 85 N. Miller Rd. Fairlawn, OH 44333