Community members shared laughter, tears and applause as they gathered Saturday to honor the life of veteran Detroit attorney Bill Goodman at Wayne State University.
Goodman died on November 17, 2023 at the age of 83, and a funeral was held on November 20, 2023 at the Ira Kaufman Chapel in Southfield.
Saturday afternoon, attendees at Wayne State’s Community Arts Auditorium filled with speakers of all ages and backgrounds who spoke about the profound impact Goodman has had on their lives and careers.
Goodman’s decades-long legal career has included human rights and civil liberties advocacy, taking on cases such as the stop-and-frisk policy, Guantanamo Bay detentions, the Flint water crisis, Palestinian rights, police brutality, prisoner rights, victims of the Vietnam War and more.
He co-founded Goodman and Hurwitz, PC, a Detroit-based civil rights firm, co-founded the Sugar Law Center for Economics and Social Justice in Detroit, taught at Wayne State’s law school for more than 15 years and served as legal director. from the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York.
Goodman also served as special counsel to the Detroit City Council when former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was embroiled in a text messaging scandal in 2008. Most recently, Goodman represented Detroit Will Breathe in a lawsuit against the City of Detroit that ended in a $1 million settlement.
“He dedicated his life to helping the most vulnerable victims of state violence and conducted himself with such levity and life,” said Nicholas Hurwitz-Goodman, Goodman’s son. “He was the funniest person I know, always ready with a joke or anecdote about his life.”
Detroit Democrat and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib recalled Goodman’s dedication as a mentor throughout her political career.
“He has always used his expertise and love to teach my residents how to exercise their rights, while the police have weaponized the immigration status of many of my neighbors,” Tlaib said.
South African lawyer and activist Albie Sachs, a longtime friend of Goodman, shared a message via video.
“He had a generosity and a cheerful spirit, a genius that could make good with people,” Sachs said. “He enjoyed life, he enjoyed being, he enjoyed doing things, he enjoyed company.”
Organizers played a video clip of Goodman, dressed as Santa Claus, trying to distribute copies of the U.S. Constitution outside the White House one Christmas, with attendees laughing the entire time, a touch of Goodman’s humor mixed with legal advocacy.
Attorney Allison Kriger worked as a paralegal for Goodman at Goodman and Hurwitz, PC, and appreciated the impact of his core principles as a lawyer, she said.
“No matter how many times humanity seemed to let him down by purposefully and methodically creating laws that oppressed people, especially black and brown people, he never gave up, he never stopped fighting to change those laws and dismantle that power structure ” said Kriger. .
Goodman dedicated his life to pursuing a more just world for all, said Julie Hurwitz, his longtime attorney and mother of three of his children.
“He was essentially one of the most decent, generous and generous people I have ever known. He always fought for justice and for a society in which human rights take precedence over property and capital rights,” Hurwitz said.
Goodman is survived by six children, four grandchildren, a brother, his children’s mothers, Jane Goodman and Hurwitz, and Susan Gzesh, his partner.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Memorial honors life of veteran attorney and human rights activist
