Lorna Bade Goodman ’63, P’88

AB, JD; New York, New York

Lorna Bade Goodman ’63 was elected to the Vassar College board of trustees in 2013.

After graduation Ms. Goodman married Edwin A. Goodman and raised two children: Sara, Vassar ’88; and Thea, Sarah Lawrence ’91. Ten years later she went to law school. She worked for a year in the private sector and then began her career as a government attorney with the New York City Law Department. As an Assistant Corporation Counsel she defended the New York City Landmarks Commission, the Board of Education, the New York City Police and Fire Departments and various other City Agencies. In 1980, she initiated a new litigation division to represent the City as plaintiff. In this capacity she led challenges on behalf of the City to gun manufacturers, tobacco companies, the US Census and men-only clubs in the stream of commerce. In 2002 she was appointed by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi to be Nassau County’s first woman County Attorney. In this role she reorganized and rebuilt a law department of 110 lawyers, saving the County millions of dollars in private counsel fees. In 2010, Ms. Goodman served as Executive Director of the New York City Charter Revision Commission where she oversaw a referendum resulting in a return to a two-term limit for the Mayor and the City Council. Ms. Goodman now works as a sole practitioner and mediator in New York City. She currently chairs the Board of Trustees of the World Monuments Fund.

She also serves as a trustee of the Museum of the City of New York, Citizen Union and is on the Advisory Board of the Hospital for Special Surgery and Hofstra University Law School.