Thelma E. Goldberg

Thelma E. Goldberg of Cambridge and Centerville, formerly of Brookline, died peacefully on March 14, 2015 after bravely living with Parkinson’s and Lewy Body Disease for a number of years.

She was born in London in 1934 and was sent to the countryside to escape the German bombing of London in World War II.  Her family moved to New York at the end of the war and she attended school in the United States, graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1955, the first in her family to graduate college.

She was passionately engaged in the Boston musical world — as chair of the Brookline Youth Concerts, Executive Vice President and Trustee of the New England Conservatory, and as an active member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra community for over 50 years, starting as a volunteer.  There she was elected to the Board of Overseers in 1982, served as the Chairman of Overseers from 1992 to 1995, was elected a BSO Trustee in 1994, and become a Life Trustee in 2010.  At the BSO, she established the Archives Committee which now serves as the advocate for the BSO archives, resources, preservation and outreach activities.  Her work there was featured on an October 2000 WCRB broadcast.  Active on the Education and Buildings & Grounds Committees, she was also intensively involved in planning the BSO’s centennial celebrations.   Mrs. Goldberg is credited with conceiving of the idea for “Salute for Symphony” and was the creator and founder of the Symphony Shop at Symphony Hall.  Mrs. Goldberg was the co-author of the guidebook for Symphony Hall and was a noted tour giver.  According to the BSO, “in her eyes no task was too small – no request too daunting – no goal too impossible to reach.”

In addition to the BSO and the New England Conservatory, Mrs. Goldberg held numerous other leadership roles at musical organizations including Longy School of Music, Project STEP, Boston Music Education Collaborative, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and Spoleto Festival, USA in Charleston, SC.  During her lifetime, two traditions were established in her honor at Harvard University – an annual undergraduate composers’ concert and an award for Arts-In-Education.

She was also an intensely creative person, producing sculptures, paintings, needleworks and calligraphy, often for her family who were central to her life.

She is survived by Ray, her husband of 58 years, her son Marc and his wife Lorri, her daughter Jennifer and her husband Bill, her son Jeffrey and six grandchildren – Rick and his wife Amy, Alyssa, Meredith, Michelle, Nicole and her fiancé Pablo, and Gabrielle – as well as her sister Patricia Main.

Burial will be private; a memorial service will follow at a later date.  In lieu of flowers, donations in her honor may be made to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.