Alan Richard Goodwin

Dr. Alan R. Goodwin who worked as a child psychologist, drug addiction prevention activist, mental healthcare consultant, educator, inspiring mentor, and executive administrator, passed away in the early hours of Friday, April 5, 2019.

Son of Howard and Bessie Lee Goodwin, Alan grew up in Glencoe, Chicago. Alan Richard Goodwin was born on Jan 1, 1941. He attended New Trier High School. After graduating from New Trier, he attended the University of Alabama as an undergraduate and then also earned his Ph.D in Educational Psychology from the University of Alabama. He was a freshman there when he volunteered at Bryce State Mental Health Hospital in Tuscaloosa, and organized his fraternity brothers to play basketball with the patients.

Starting in 1977, he served as the Executive Director of the Indian Rivers Mental Health Center in Tuscaloosa, AL. He was an integral part of the community, linking educational, mental health, and law enforcement professionals together, where they interacted together to benefit the wellbeing of others. On February 2, 1988, Alan Goodwin, as the Director of Indian Rivers, was called in to help deal with the West End Christian School hostage crisis, where more than one hundred people, mostly children, were held captive. Dr. Goodwin kept the parents of the kidnapped children calm in the gym for twelve hours, avoiding major violence, and then actually brought their children back to safety under the direction of the police. Alan helped create a task force to help families deal with this incident in Tuscaloosa. He brought mental health services to impoverished areas of Alabama, like Aliceville in Pickens County, where he worked with very high risk children through the school system.

The board of directors eventually renamed the center of Indian Rivers after Alan Goodwin in his honor. In the early ‘80s he co-created an educational board game, “Drugs/Alcohol: Play It Straight,” directed to use for families and teens mixing the fun with the serious. Dr. Goodwin spent decades in the addiction treatment field and became a trusted professional called by clinics and families for creditable advice of where to turn for true help. He was an activist for what was truly ethical.

In 2018, Dr. Goodwin investigated the realm of sketchy rehab referral services. Many of them simply take advantage of desperate people for their cold profits. The underhanded tactics of these type of clinics outraged him. Please read “A Doctor With a Phone and A Mission, (Underbelly of the Rehab Industry)” in the New York Times, January 9, 2018. Dr. Goodwin took his findings to the State’s Attorney General of Palm Beach County. He was also involved with the Sober Homes Task Force of Palm Beach County which cracks down on sober homes and medical facilities that engage in illegal activity.

In the 1990’s, he helped a private hospital, The Manors, in Tarpon Springs, FL create an addiction treatment program.

Alan Goodwin ran multiple drug and alcohol adolescent treatment centers, including Bradford in Birmingham Alabama. He led many a recharge weekend in Washington, positively impacting thousands of at risk families. What made Alan different was that he was never in it for the money, but instead for the social capital and the relationships. Alan lived life everyday to the fullest and was an avid runner, completing 4 New York Marathons. He was an original member of the NYC Bridgerunners. Alan was and is infinite! He could be seen riding his bike through East New York, visiting with day care centers and teachers. He offered business and life advice to boxers, while proudly taking in his son’s Overthrow Boxing Club. Alan could be in Palm Beach, walking his dogs to the beach, while advising a head of state before heading to dinner with his beloved wife, Sara, only to hit the road and intervene and help a low income family in crisis. The thing about Alan was there were no rules; anything was possible! Everyday was about living, giving, teaching, and growing. Work and life were one and the same; they were both about love. Alan was infinite!

In recent years, Dr. Goodwin became an entrepreneur, President of Goodwin Associates, Inc. He designed group e-learning for colleges and other entities. Working with Touro College in New York, he provided educational opportunities for many preschool teachers enriching their lives and their work experience in New York.

Alan championed various causes over the years and mentored many people over the decades. He organized a successful donation drive and delivered personally flashlight batteries and books to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. This trip was taken after enduring a nine-hour surgery in his ongoing battle against cancer.

Alan led an exceptional life. A selfless person, Alan strove to make the world a better place, one person or family at a time. An inspiring mentor, a force for good, Alan will continue to live through all the many people who knew and loved him. His life impacted others only in a very positive way. A life well lived, Alan was inquisitive, mischievous, and light-hearted. He had a gift, an ability of connecting with people in a sincere, genuine, caring way. He will be greatly missed.

Alan R. Goodwin is survived by his devoted wife of forty-four years, Sara D. Goodwin, and his loving son, Joseph M. Goodwin. He is also survived by his sister Jane Gray, Julie Unger O’Malley, niece, and her husband Steve, and Andy Unger, nephew, and Marcia Sprague Unger, wife, and all of their children.

Sara & Joey Goodwin would very much like to thank the professional staff of Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital for all the care that Alan received in his final days, and in the last six years of his life. We especially want to thank Dr. William D. Tap and Dr. Sam S. Yoon for their dedication in ensuring that Alan received medical care delivered with compassion, consideration, and respect.

A memorial service, celebrating the life of Alan Richard Goodwin will take place on Sunday, April 14, 2019 beginning at 2 PM. Location: 9 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012.