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In Memory of
David Goldstein Obituary
David B. Goldstein, 73, born on June 29, 1951 and died October 18, 2024 at home after a valiant struggle with cancer. His life was defined by his closeness to family and friends and to his transformative work of protecting the environment from climate change and air pollution. His professional success was aided by his uncanny ability to explain complex and nuanced concepts to non-technical audiences of political decision-makers, his students, mentees, and family members.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he attended Cleveland Heights High School and UC Berkeley, earning a BA and a Ph.D. in physics. At Natural Resources Defense Council for 43 years, he was a tireless advocate for energy efficiency codes and standards for appliances, buildings, and industry. He was instrumental in improving building standards in China, India and Russia.
He was awarded a 2002 MacArthur Foundation fellowship and the 1998 Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest. He authored Saving Energy Growing Jobs and Invisible Energy.
David had numerous interests, chief among them his family, travel, photography, classical and rock music, the arts, and Judaism. He met his wife, Julia Vetromile, on public transit. They became inseparable, marrying in 1980, and living in San Francisco. In addition to his wife, David is survived by his children Elianna Goldstein (Robert) and Abraham Goldstein (Alana), sister Joan Bendix (Jeff); and grandchildren Gabriel, Eli, Ariadne, Asher, and Judah.
David's funeral was held at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake Street, San Francisco.
Continue his legacy by performing innovative and creative work, listening with intention, loving fully, and developing further ways to reduce carbon emissions and repair the world. Donations can be made to Institute for Market Transformation or NRDC.
 
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Gail Silver
Dear, dear David, such a loss to all of us and to the world! Meeting and chatting with you and lovely Julia at a recent reunion--45th? 50th?-- was one of the nicest memories I have of many meetings and re-meetings at class reunions. I missed you at the 55th, and now will forever miss just knowing that you're still around, doing your kind deeds and important work, and (selfishly) that I won't get to chat with you and Julia again. Rest in peace. Or, now, continue lighting up and enlightening the next realm.
Warren Rosman
David Goldstein was the brightest person I knew - and that includes college and law school. I was in first grade through fourth grade wiith David at Northwood. He then moved to Belvoir. In third grade I sat directly in front of him. I thought then that he could be doing a much higher level of math - I think we were learning how to "carry" that year. He was a great combnation of being bright and kind - I never heard a negatove comment from him. The "legend" was that while he could have skipped one or more grades, his family wanted him to be socialized with his own age group. Later, in college where I saw 12 year olds walking around cluelessly as freshman, I saw the wisdom in his family's planning. David came to many of our reunions - he was a great classmate to speak with. I will miss him greatly.
Charles, (Chuck) Balcher
I'm pretty sure David was in one of my classes and I do remember how smart he was.
Deborah A. Levey
At Wiley and HHS, for years I was probably the only person shorter than David. Toward the end of college we met at an event in Cleveland, and forged a permanent friendship through correspondence and rare visits to each other's coasts. It was fascinating to follow his decades of efforts on energy conservation from the technical aspects to the much more difficult job of convincing people to change wasteful habits. The HHS 20th, 40th and 50th reunions provided more opportunities to discuss how our ideas about so many topics had changed. We last met a few months before his untimely death, when he traveled to Boston on business while coping with debilitating chemotherapy. Despite his illness, he spoke with great enthusiasm about his children and grandchildren, expressed pride in his wife's post-retirement activities, and discussed photography, travel and other longterm passions. A speaker at his memorial service summed up much when he pointed out how David's innovations in energy efficiency ended up saving more energy than is produced by all the nuclear power plants in the US.