goldberg

Herb Goldberg

Herbert G. Goldberg died October 31, 2005 after a short illness. His obiturary from the Chicago Tribune 11/1/2005 included:

Herbert G. Goldberg, beloved husband of Elizabeth ''Betty'' Goldberg; dear father of the late Alan M. (Melinda) and the late Barbara Goldberg; devoted grandfather of Jenifer L.M. and Emma L.M. Goldberg; fond brother of Bettee (the late Jerry) Rotenberg; loving uncle of many nieces and nephews. Services Wednesday 11 a.m. at The Piser Chapel, 9200 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Private interment at Jewish Oakridge Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Selfhelp Home Herb was one of the pioneers of stuttering support. He founded the first NSA chapter in Chicago and was one of the first consumer representatives recognized by ASHA. He also founded a non-profit organization that brought the Edinburgh Masker to the U.S. and making it available to individuals who stutter. Herb was a good friend and mentor to many. Herb was sincerely committed to helping people who stutter. He was a person who stuttered and often used the Edinburgh Masker at conferences to assist his speech. Herb, Dave Williams and Bill Shearer (both faculty members at Northern Illinois University) appeared on the TV "That's Incredible" to demonstrate the device. He made these devices available free of charge just because he wanted to help. (information posted to SID4 mailing list by Howard Schwartz and Connie Dugan 11/2005).

Herb was elected to the NSA's Stuttering Hall of Fame in 1998 at the National Stuttering Project Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Accepting the award he started out with some pseudo (fake) stuttering, then went on with the following:

So today I am a big man on campus, and I greatly appreciate the honor. But I am not the one, I am a messenger. At the ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention in San Francisco in 1979, three young men who stutter, John Ahlbach, Michael Sugarman, and Bob Goodman, gave a presentation about the formation of The National Stuttering Project, our NSP.

They were almost kicked out of the convention for suggesting they start a data base of referrals to practitioners who are comfortable dealing with people who stutter. Now Jane Fraser of the Stuttering Foundation does this as well.

If it wasn't for the persistence of these men, we would not have our NSP today - and ASHA now has a Clinical Specialty Board.

We are not here to cure your stuttering, we are here to help you accept your stuttering, do what you can to help yourself, and to enter as much into the life style of a normal speaker as you are able.

Again, thank you very, very much. I just wish my Mom and Dad were here to see me today.

Connie Dugan has created a website which features a series of Articles by Herb Goldberg

added March 5, 2008