William Goodstein was the first president of Marina Towers Condominium Association. He was elected in 1977 and was still serving two years later when the Chicago Tribune wrote a story about him, Condo’s president like a town mayor.

Goodstein described his job as “part public relations man, part umpire, and part businessman.”

“In this building there are 896 bosses, and each one of them wants a say-so as to what happens here.”

Goodstein said his job was similar to that of a town mayor. “The owners of the condominium property like to have the buildings run like small towns. They want to maintain the services they initially paid for, and they want the quality of the building, or ‘neighborhood’ to stay competitive.”

He said it was interesting work, a good way to learn about people. “People ask me about insurance benefits, about land value, and how they could improve their property. However, when things go wrong, I have to act as an umpire between the condo board and the residents.”

His biggest responsibility, he said, was to be accessible to residents. “When you are president, you wear a lot of hats. The trick is knowing when to take the right hats off, and put the right hats on.”

Goodstein was a real estate lawyer. In 1950, he founded Asher, Greenfield, Goodstein, Pavalon, and Segall. Although he owned a condominium at Marina City, he did not actually live there.