Allies Pay Respects to Neil Goldschmidt

Goldschmidt will also be remembered for his yearslong sexual abuse of a young girl named Elizabeth Dunham.

goldschmidt Neil Goldschmidt in the 1970s. (WW archive)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Family and friends of the late Neil Goldschmidt paid their final respects Aug. 4 to the man who served as Portland’s 45th mayor (1973-1979) and Oregon’s 33rd governor (1987-1991). But Goldschmidt will also be remembered for his yearslong sexual abuse of a young girl named Elizabeth Dunham (“The 30-Year Secret,” WW, May 12, 2004).

A crowd of about 250 gathered at Congregation Beth Israel in Northwest Portland to remember Goldschmidt, who died at age 83 on June 12.

Former colleagues and longtime friends, including onetime stock brokerage firm owner Jerry Bidwell, financier Irving Levin, former Goldschmidt gubernatorial aide Kathleen Saadat, and Goldschmidt mayoral aide Alan Webber (now mayor of Santa Fe, N.M.), as well as stepson Neilan Snowden spoke, focusing on Goldschmidt’s accomplishments.

Pink Martini bandleader Thomas Lauderdale played piano, and Levin played the cello.

None of Oregon’s five living governors attended the event.

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