Geoff Goddard
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Geoffrey Goddard, who died on March 11th, 2021. He had Alzheimer’s disease and a subsequent stroke. He was 82.
Geoff was born in Ewell, England, the only child of George and Evelyn Goddard. He grew up in Worthing, Sussex. He attended Worthing School for Boys, graduating at the age of 15. He became an Articled Clerk with a firm of chartered accountants and subsequently passed the Chartered Accountancy examinations, being awarded the fourth Certificate of Merit, the Frederick Whinney Prize, and the Plender Prizes for the papers on advanced accounting.
After completing his academic studies, Geoff was conscripted into the military in the UK at the age of 21. After two years of military service, he was employed by Coopers and Lybrand to work in their office in Kingston, Jamacia. He returned to the UK 5 years later where he joined the Grosvenor Corporation of London. He was selected for a position in their real estate division in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and it is there that he met his lifelong wife Jennifer and they had two sons, James and Mark. After seven years, the real estate division was purchased by Mobil Oil Corp. and the Goddard family was relocated to California, where they purchased a home in Belvedere, Marin County.
Whilst in the US, Geoff completed the CPA examinations, receiving the Elijah Watt Sells Award. He was involved in many real estate ventures and owned and operated a successful family real estate business.
Geoffrey enjoyed many sports activities, mainly soccer, rugby and cricket. He was instrumental in the formation of soccer on the Tiburon Peninsula and coached his son’s premier soccer teams. Later, girls soccer was introduced into the game and he would never miss his granddaughters’ soccer games. He was a member of the Marin County Cricket Club and in his later years was an umpire for many of their games. He enjoyed chess and he and his wife were members of the sixteen couples Bridge Group. He was an avid reader, with European and US history and politics being favorite topics. He was a member of the Belvedere Sailing Society, for which he was Commodore in 1985, and enjoyed sailing his sunfish and Lido on the Belvedere Lagoon and was part of the Lido fleet.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Jennifer, their children James Goddard and his wife Sharon of Mill Valley, California, and Mark Goddard of Portland, Oregon; his grandchildren, Helena and Evelyn; his half aunt, Daphne Goddard-Coates of Chichester, England; and cousins, nieces and nephews in the UK and New Zealand.
Family services have been held. Anyone wishing to make a memorial donation, please do so by supporting the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America or the UCSF Foundation for Geriatric Research.