Bill Goodwin served as a Trustee to JACF from 1996 to 2002. Bill passed away on January 27, 2018 at the age of 81.
William A. Goodwin was born and raised in Des Moines, of pioneer stock. He graduated from Roosevelt High School, received an industrial engineering degree from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in business from the Stanford Business School. Memorial services will be 11:00 am Saturday February 3, 2018 at Central Presbyterian Church. Burial was held at Glendale Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 4-6 om Friday February 2, 2018 at Dunn’s Funeral Home.
Mr. Goodwin was a Des Moines businessman and manufacturer who spent his career engaged in the production of brick, tile, sewer pipe, concrete products and industrial abrasives. At one point the Goodwin Companies operated thirteen manufacturing plants in Iowa and Minnesota. They were sold to Can-Tex industries in the early 1970s. Mr. Goodwin then became president of Iowa Concrete Block & Material Company from 1970 through 1995, and in recent years was a land developer, organizing and serving as president of Goodwin Grain and Land Companies and Cerro Gordo Land Company.
Mr. Goodwin served in the Navy on destroyers, and during the cold war period was a capsule recovery officer in the Mercury Space Program, participating in the recovery of astronauts Glenn and Grissom. After active duty he remained in the reserve, commanding four units, and retiring as a Captain in 1982.
Mr. Goodwin was a member or past member of the Boards of Directors of the following business corporations: First Federal State Bank, Hawkeye Bank & Trust Co., Mercantile Bank of Polk County, Firstar Bank, US Bank of Des Moines, Red Wing Sewer Pipe Corp., Iowa Aviation, Inc., Central Engineering and Investment Company and Beaver Farms, Inc.
He was also a member or past member of the Boards of Directors or Trustees of the following not-for-profit entities: The Iowa State University Foundation, The Iowa (formerly Iowa Methodist) Health Foundation; the Human Gene Therapy Research Institute; The John Austin Cheley Foundation; the Polk County Chapter of the American Cancer Society; and the Metropolitan Des Moines YMCA, of which he was corporate secretary for a number of years.
Additionally, he was a 30-year member of both the Drake Relays Committee, serving as its president in 1973 and as registrar of the Relays during his entire tenure; and the Raccoon Valley Little League Association, serving as its president in 1986-87. He was a certified track and field official and a long-time amateur umpire.
In his business and professional endeavors he was a member of the National Concrete Masonry Association, the Iowa Association for Business and Industry (formerly the Iowa Manufacturers’ Association), the Iowa Engineering Society, the Brick Institute of America, the National Clay Pipe Institute, the Farm Credit Services Association, and the Farm Bureau Federation. Militarily he was a member of the Naval Reserve Association and the Reserve Officer’s Association.
He was a long-time member of Central Presbyterian Church.
