George Stefan Golda's Obituary
It is with the deepest of sadness that we announce the loss of our beloved George Stefan Golda on August 1, 2023, at the young age of 66. He was receiving a lifesaving liver transplant for his battle with liver disease and liver cancer.
George was born August 24th, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois to his biological parents, Tony Sottile and Dorothy Voisard, and was raised by his adoptive parents, his grandmother Dorothy May Golda, and Grandfather John Zbigniew Golda.
He moved to Northern California at the age of 5, where he lived the remainder of his life in San Mateo, Millbrae, San Bruno, Half Moon Bay, and Montara before eventually settling in El Granada, a tiny town on the coast just north of Half Moon Bay.
After a year abroad in England with his family, George returned to Capuchino and the marching band to complete his senior year (1974-1975). He was the lead player in the trombone section and a natural leader for the band in general. In the alumni years since, he was a beloved friend to an always close-knit group of former band mates that he was instrumental in creating and fostering. Later he joined other ensembles at Skyline College, playing in the concert band and performing Big Band, Swing and Jazz music for a variety of audiences with other fellow musicians.
George earned a B.S. degree from San Jose State, in Electrical Engineering in 1975 and he spent 43 years of his illustrious career, initially at the infancy of the biotechnology industry with Applied Biosystems (ABI), followed by Lynx Therapeutics as an inventor of the revolutionary technology Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) which, together with Solexa, enabled Illumina’s DNA Sequencing. George’s last contribution, together with a few co-veterans at his earlier companies, was as a co-inventor, developer, then responsible for IP filings and documentation of a miniaturized, web-connected wearable medical device. The prototype was developed further by a co-founded French startup team to produce a manufacturable device now in Clinical Trials in France by Rhythm Diagnostic Systems (RDS SAS). The aim of the company is to market a real time, web-connected monitor of several key cardiac and respiratory parameters. This was a goal initially conceived and validated by George, together with a few others as well as his mentor, friend, and former CEO, Sam Eletr, before passing the baton to the French team.
His proficiency in electronics could be seen from an early age. As a boy, he built a rudimentary “lie detector test,” which actually worked. When his sister Cathy brought it to “show and tell” at her grade school, the teacher said “A child made this? If I were his parents, I’d send this to Hasbro. They could turn it into a game, and your family could make millions.” George also developed a fascination with radios and all things electronic. This fascination led him at the age of 15 to become a licensed Amateur (Ham) Radio operator. George was first licensed as a novice, WN6NKM, then later as a General and Extra class licensee, WA6NKM. Early in those first years George joined and was mentored by members of the local San Mateo Radio Club (SMRC). His membership in that club would last until present, where he himself lovingly mentored many young radio operators, eventually becoming president of the club, growing its membership significantly during a lean period. For the last 30 or so years he was a leader of the annual Field Day Contest where Hams from all over North America participate in a simulated national emergency by setting up temporary communications equipment and operating continuously for 24 hours. SMRC would set up at Beresford Park in San Mateo, and George was always one of the 'Iron Man' participants who would operate for the full 24 hours. George was an avid and accomplished CW (morse code) operator and holder of many achievement awards from the national Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL).
George began his martial arts journey at Cahill’s Judo Academy at the age of 7. He was Cahill’s 1st Junior National Champion by earning several medals: the bronze medal in Ft Lauderdale, Florida in 1965, the silver medal in Long Beach California in 1966, the gold medal in Denver, Colorado 1967, and the gold medal in Spokane, Washington in 1968. From all these accolades, he was voted as the “Most Outstanding Junior Competitor in the United States”. His love & passion for judo led him back to Cahill’s where he continued his training for many years, and in 2014 he went on to win the gold medal in the Senior Nationals Masters 90Kg division. Possessing the desire to excel, he earned his 4th degree Black Belt (Yodan) and served as a respected judo instructor(sensei) and coach. He coached at many tournaments, where he inspired students to do their best. He taught many kids and advance juniors’ classes with Willy Cahill, Ben Franklin, Brad Burgo & others. His kindness, open mindedness, knowledge, and patience along with his infectious smile built lasting relationships with his many judo children. He will always be remembered by his brother, Ben, from another mother.
Early in life he developed of love of planes as his father worked as a mechanic for United Airlines. His love for flying first manifested with control line model airplane flying at 10 years of age. Next, he got into remote control flying (PCC model airplane club) with his long-time childhood friend Dave Blin and finally getting his amateur pilots license at age 29. He enjoyed taking friends and family on quick jaunts and weekend retreats. George loved to collect airline memorabilia from the 40s-60’s and he was fascinated with airplanes from all eras, including war planes.
Other hobbies of George included restoring antiques and classic cars back to their original glory, including his own iconic 1958 Ford Fairlane and 1963 Plymouth Valiant. “George can fix anything,” was what friends and family often said, whether he put back together your favorite broken vase so seamlessly that no one would ever know, or getting a stain out of your favorite blouse, he was the man for the job.
George also had a passion for good food and cooking, and he regaled friends and family on Christmas night for decades with his famous multi-coursed dinner. He and his Sous Chefs, Breen, Mark, Pres and the “saucier” Peter Fraser all wore chef hats, and they put on a lively and memorable show preparing dinner. George would always introduce each course and delighted everyone with his humor.
Later in life at the age of 40 in 1996, he finally met the love of his life Laurie Goodman Golda at Lynx Therapeutics. It was kismet and love at first sight and the two became fast friends before starting to date in 1998. In 1999 he became her guardian angel, finding her breast cancer, saving her life, and nurturing her while she went through her cancer treatments. They married in 2002 at the Thomas Fogarty Winery in a magical ceremony with all of their friends and family and began life as a married couple. In 2007 they built their “dreamhouse” overlooking the ocean in El Granada and it was lovingly nicknamed
“The Mansion” because of its larger-than-life size, including an entire top floor made into a 40’s style bar with 180-degree views of the Pacific Ocean, where they enjoyed many parties with friends and family. They both had a fondness for the 40s and 50s clothing, music, architecture, and furniture and often talked about why they were not born much earlier in life. They made annual treks to Yosemite during their anniversary to climb the Mist Trail and used it as a barometer of their fitness. They spent many a New Year’s Eve in New York city, one of their all-time favorite cities, as well as a trek down south to Disneyland to visit Mickey and Minnie every year. They traveled many places across the US, EU, and Mexico, but always ending up in Hawaii at the “Pink Hotel” in Waikiki and dreamt of one day spending half the year in Hawaii during retirement. They both shared a love of all things medicine and science, the outdoors, hiking, camping, and biking. Laurie always said that George was a big boy with little boy dreams and always lived life like he was still a child. They dreamed of one day finally getting their first child, a Golden Retriever named Shronkey.
People who loved George describe him as someone who was “larger than life.” We said George was “One thousand volts of power,” as he charged toward life with vim, vigor and passion that is rare. Whether he was skiing down a mountain, debating friends on existential meanderings, body surfing in the ocean, hiking a mountain, doing judo, talking on Ham Radio, working on a home project, reciting episodes of Seinfeld, or just spending time with family and friends, he was an explosion of intelligence, physical prowess, talent, love, and humor. His mother used to say that George does not arrive but rather crashes. George could charm anyone with his witty irreverence. He could take a fork and eat off the plate of a complete stranger in a restaurant, and by the end of the night they would become best friends. He could sit on a stool at the door of a bar and charge customers a cover charge, only to return the money to them later over much laughter. He charmed police to such an extent, that he rarely got a ticket in his entire life.
It goes without even saying that our George Golda was truly a renaissance man and he will be forever missed by everyone who touched his life over the past 66 years. He truly lived the life of 4 men and for that we are all grateful.
He is survived by his wife Laurie Goodman Golda of El Granada, his siblings Chris Voisard and Cathy Voisard (Peter), his half siblings Marco Sottile (Adriana) and Laura Sottile (Albert) his niece Reyna Benbow (Pres) and great niece Juniper, and his biological father Tony Sottile (Renata) and Mother-in-Law, Katherine Goodman, brother in laws Chris Goodman (Linda), Charles Goodman, Jeff Goodman (Gina), Breen Hofmann (Lori), Mark Hofmann (Alicia)and Sister in law Kathie Acosta (Mike) and his nephew in laws Grant Goodman (Stephanie), Michael Acosta, niece in law Jennifer Acosta and great niece in law Sadie Goodman, and his Polish cousins in Fremont (Warren) and Chicago (Golda, Litynsky, Szudrowicz), his Italian uncle (Renato Sottile) and cousins in Northern CA (Chiara, Daniel, Marcella etc.) and his cousins from England (Lucille, Richard, Margaret, Geoff, John, Teresa etc.). And finally, to the enormous number of other family members and friends who are mourning the loss of one of the most extraordinary men on the planet.
A celebration of life will be held on October 25, 2023, from 1-5 pm at Mavericks House; 107 Broadway, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019. As George loved Hawaii, his celebration of life will be Hawaiian themed. Please come in your best Aloha garb.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the American Liver Foundation https://liverfoundation.org/
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