Barbara Goldsmith

Barbara S. Goldsmith, 72, of West Orange and Sarasota, Fla., died March 22, 2016. She was born in New York City and moved to West Orange after her marriage in 1967. In 1986, she moved with her family to Short Hills before moving back to West Orange and also Sarasota in 2009.

At 16 years of age, Mrs. Goldsmith attended Beaver College (now Arcadia University), where she majored in biology. Her first job after college was in a medical laboratory at Albert Einstein Medical Center. She subsequently became one of the first women inspectors for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the late 1960s. 

She joined the first night class of Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1975. Following her graduation in 1979, she clerked for NJ Appellate Division Judge John Crane and then worked at the Newark law firm of Crummy Del Deo Dolan and Purcell (now known as Gibbons). She earned a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in tax from New York University. In the early 1980s, she became a Deputy Attorney General of New Jersey, working for five years representing the Department of Banking, and then for 20 years representing New Jersey Transit. There, she specialized in real estate transactions needed to build some of the state’s most ambitious transportation projects, including the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Newark Light Rail, and AirTran, the Newark Airport Monorail. 

A lifelong animal lover, she was a docent at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange. 

Get New Jersey Jewish News's Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Richard; two daughters, Meredith Goldsmith and Rebecca Goldsmith Freedman (Michael Freedman); a sister, Cynthia Sternberg; and three grandchildren. 

Services were held March 24 with arrangements by Bernheim-Apter-Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Chapel, Livingston. Memorial contributions may be made to Zoological Society of NJ or National Council of Jewish Women.