Alvin Malcolm Goodman  
Electrical engineer, physicist and teacher, passed away December 24, 2017, at the Halquist Memorial Inpatient Center in Arlington, VA. The cause of death was congestive heart failure. He was 87 years old. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Al received a BS degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University in 1952 and a PhD degree from Princeton University in 1958. Upon finishing his doctoral work in 1957, he joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, returning in 1959 to the town of Princeton to become a Member of the Technical Staff of RCA Laboratories. While at RCA, Al published 57 articles in refereed journals, was awarded 24 U.S. patents, and received many awards. The RCA award he most treasured was a sabbatical year in industry (1970-1971) to pursue postdoctoral study wherever he chose. He decided upon the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, where RCA had its European Laboratory. Following early retirement in 1987, Al had a second career as a Scientific/Program Officer in the Electronics Division of the Office of Naval Research, until retiring again in 1996. Al enjoyed his retirement which offered him more time to spend with family and friends, to travel, to read, and to take long daily walks. His life changed significantly when he became profoundly blind at age 82. Not one to lose heart or quit, he continued his walks on the arm of a seeing person and listened to hundreds of books, many of them the classics he did not have time to read in earlier years.  Surviving are his wife of 51 years, Constance Moench Goodman, a son, Bruce Malcolm Goodman and his wife, Elizabeth Woodings Goodman, a daughter, Kimberly Louise Goodman and her partner, Andres De Los Reyes.  All who knew him will miss his gentle warmth, sparkling sense of humor, and fine mind, with its impressive recall of so many subjects. A gathering to celebrate his life will take place this spring. For gifts in Al's memory the family suggests a donation to the Wilmer Eye Institute in support of the Ophthalmic Surgical and Education Training Center. Gifts can be sent to Wilmer Development Office, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Wilmer 112, 600 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21287.