Obituary

Donald E. Goldstone

Fri, 03/21/2014 - 9:45am

Donald E. Goldstone of Washington, D.C. and Boothbay died on March 1, 2014 in Washington, D.C.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 8, 1936, he graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1957 and The University of Chicago Medical School in 1961. Dr. Goldstone was a Peace Corps physician in Pakistan from 1962 to 1964, where he met his wife, Marti. While in Pakistan, he cared for Peace Corps volunteers and helped set up and administer nursing and health technical services. He headed the Peace Corps medical program in Latin America from 1964 to 1965 and attended the Harvard School of Public Health, earning an MPH in 1966.

In 1970 he joined the Office of Policy Planning in the Health Services and Mental Health Administration, which was then the planning office for the Assistant Secretary of Health.  He continued to work in healthcare policy at the National Center for Health Services Research, and, after appointment to the Senior Executive Service, as the director of the agency’s Center for Intramural Research. He worked on the Nixon health plan of 1971, the Bush health proposals of 1989, and the Clinton health plan of 1993. In 1996, he took over the office responsible for data collection and analysis in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. He retired in 2004.

Donald was a summer resident of Boothbay for 40 years and loved fishing and walking the family woodlots. He had fond memories of catching Cross River stripers, digging clams for clambakes on the shores of Oven’s Mouth, and learning to use a scythe from his father-in-law, John Welsh Sr. He enjoyed working on his cottage, which was built from wood harvested on family land and processed at the Dodge Mill, which once stood on the corner of Dover Road.  

He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Martha Welsh Goldstone; three sons, Jed Goldstone of East Falmouth, Mass., and his wife Heather, Toby Goldstone of Portland, Ore.; and Ben Goldstone of Washington, D.C.; three grandsons; a brother, David Goldstone of Julian, Calif.; step-mother, Muriel Goldstone of Baltimore, Md.; brothers and sisters-in-law, John and Rebecca Welsh of Boothbay, and Sue and John Reed of Cambridge, Mass., and Southport.

Remembrances will be held at a later date in Boothbay. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Boothbay Region Land Trust, 137 Townsend Avenue, P.O. Box 183, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538.