Carole Joan Goldfarb

Carole Goldfarb’s Obituary

Carole Joan Goldfarb, born October 21, 1936, was a creative and intellectually curious teacher, mother, wife, grandmother, friend, engaged citizen, progressive activist, and poet. She was born in New York to Helen and Morris Biller and graduated from Cornell University in 1956.

Carole taught briefly in Berkeley while her first husband, Theodore Goldfarb, attended graduate school there. She then taught on Long Island for more than three decades, bringing intelligence, care, and imagination to generations of students.

She leaves behind her husband, Ted Goldstein, whom she loved and shared her life with for 56 years; her sons, Glenn, Brian, and Keith; their spouses, Denise, Parastou, and Peg; and her grandchildren, Sabina, Nilo, Noah, and Silas.

Carole read broadly and ceaselessly. She enjoyed painting, attending plays, concerts and dance performances, viewing art, and traveling the world. She was also an active folk dancer throughout most of her life. She had a beautiful smile that engulfed her eyes, and a hearty appetite for new experiences and ideas. She brought curiosity, conviction, and independence to everything she did.

She was a strong woman, undeterred in life, who fought fiercely against the illnesses and conditions that eventually took her body from us. Even in vulnerability, she protected those she loved from the weight of her suffering. She was stoic in life and in death, and she will be remembered for her intellect, creativity, resilience, and deep devotion to her family and the world around her.