H eadlines
Former Jewish Federation CEO Dies at 79
OB ITUARY
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
HAROLD BONAVITA-
Goldman, the
former president and CEO of the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia, died from
COVID complications on Feb.

5. He was 79.

He moved to Philadelphia
in the early 1980s and led two
prominent Jewish organiza-
tions in the region, according to
a synopsis of his life provided by
his family. From 1983 to 1999,
he served as CEO of Jewish
Family and Children’s Service.

From 2000 to 2006, he guided
Jewish Federation.

“He was the first out gay
leader in both organizations,”
the synopsis read.

After stepping down from
Jewish Federation, he moved to
New York City with his husband
John Bonavita-Goldman, but
he didn’t leave Jewish organi-
zational life. He stepped up to
serve as executive director of
his synagogue, B’nai Jeshurun
on the Upper West Side and
remained in the position for
five years.

Harold Bonavita-Goldman is
survived by John, his husband of
11 years and partner of 39 years,
as well as his sister Marilyn
Weinman, her husband Bernie
and their four children.

“He really liked helping
people,” John
Bonavita- Goldman said.

Harold Bonavita-Goldman
was born in 1942 in Memphis,
Tennessee. After earning his
juris doctor degree from the
University of Memphis, he
provided legal services to the
Harold Bonavita-Goldman
Courtesy of John Bonavita-Goldman
poor in Tennessee and Illinois.

During that period, he
grew apart from his Orthodox
upbringing. As a kid, he got
beaten up on the playground
for having payos and wearing
a kippah, according to his
husband. “He stopped doing that,”
John Bonavita-Goldman said.

“He tried to fit in.”
But in the early 1980s, Harold
Bonavita-Goldman’s father
died, and he felt a sudden desire
to reconnect. While he didn’t go
back to being Orthodox, he did
rediscover Jewish life.

“That was really a turning
point for him,” John Bonavita-
Goldman said.

And Harold Bonavita-
Goldman turned toward
Philadelphia, moving here for
the job as CEO of JFCS.

At JFCS, he fulfilled the
organizational mission of
helping the poor, said Ande
Adelman, a volunteer at the time.

The CEO was a great listener
who excelled at fundraising and
securing government contracts,
which gave JFCS the money it
needed to operate smoothly.

But Harold Bonavita-
Goldman didn’t just fulfill the
mission; he added to it.

According to
Paula Goldstein, who has been with
JFCS since 1984 and now
serves as president, Harold
Bonavita-Goldman started a
program for people struggling
with HIV and AIDS. He also
created a management counsel
to bring together leaders of
programs and the leaders of
the organization.

“You felt when you were a
program director you had
access to him and you started to
understand how decisions were
made,” Goldstein said.

On the personal side, Harold
Bonavita-Goldman was also
building. He met and fell in
love with his future husband, a
radiologist, shortly after moving
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H eadlines
He would really ask people what they were interested in and try to
tailor stuff to people’s interests.”
JOHN BONAVITA-GOLDMAN
From left: Harold Bonavita-Goldman with Betsy and Richard Sheer at a
Jewish Federation event 
Courtesy of John Bonavita-Goldman
to Philadelphia. During the
AIDS epidemic, like many gay
couples, the men rejected the
sexually open gay culture of the
1970s in favor of a relationship.

John Bonavita-Goldman
was with Harold Bonavita-
Goldman through his JFCS
years and his time at Jewish
Federation. During Harold
Bonavita-Goldman’s presidency
with the latter, John Bonavita-
Goldman got to accompany
his husband to almost nightly
fundraising dinners during the
week. “He would really ask people
what they were interested in
and try to tailor stuff to people’s
interests,” he said.

While leading
Jewish Federation, Harold Bonavita-
Goldman updated its strategic
plan to allow donors to desig-
nate their dollars to programs; he
established an open culture that
made area synagogue leaders
comfortable about coming
to him; he also ran two Israel
campaigns and established
Netivot as Philadelphia’s sister
city in the Holy Land.

“He was a very special
person. Brilliant. Terrific
problem solver,” Adelman said.

“But his best part of him was his
relationship skills.”
After Harold Bonavita-
Goldman’s tenure with Jewish
Federation, he moved to his
husband’s native home, New
York City, so the latter could
take a job with New York
University’s Department of
Radiology. Harold Bonavita-Goldman
initially called himself retired.

But he quickly came out of retire-
ment to lead B’nai Jeshurun. It
turned out the synagogue needed
him; he helped it survive by
raising $25 million to buy back
an old building.

And at long last, this
mainstream organizational
leader was able to enter the
mainstream on a personal level,
too. In 2011, New York passed the
Marriage Equality Act, joining
the rising tide of states opening
up to same-sex marriage.

The week the law went into
effect that summer, Harold
Bonavita-Goldman and John
Bonavita-Goldman got married
on a Friday morning at City
Hall. A CBS News cameraman
captured the moment. On the
subway back home, “everyone
was congratulating us,” John
Bonavita-Goldman said.

The couple
enjoyed collecting art and compiled
more than 100 pieces to hang
in their home. Sometimes,
they would hit as many as 40
galleries in a weekend.

“He was fun and really solid
to be with,” he said. l
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