William Goodstein, first condo association president William Bernard Goodstein was the first president of Marina Towers Condominium Association. He was elected in 1977 at the age of 63 and was still serving two years later when the Chicago Tribune wrote a story about him, Condo’s president like a town mayor. Photo by Thomas Hawk.

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.”

It was interesting work, a good way to learn about the residents. “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.”

Resigns to spend more time defending indictment

Goodstein, a real estate lawyer, resigned as condo board president on May 27, 1987, exactly one week after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he looted $741,000 from the employee pension fund of a company in Naperville. According to the Chicago Tribune, his resignation “followed a call for his ouster by unit owners because of his indictment.”

50 longtime employees had worked at Du Page County Boiler Works. Goodstein was accused of eliminating their jobs by bankrupting the company. Also part of the 34-count indictment were two business partners of Goodstein, including one man who had been convicted twice for swindling and was wanted in four states for fraud.

He was found guilty on December 7, 1987 and on February 18, 1988, sentenced to three years in prison. The Tribune said the judge told Goodstein he had “never before had a case involving such massive fraud.”

Goodstein was disbarred on December 5, 1988. Although he owned a condominium at Marina City, he did not actually live there. He died in California on February 1, 2011, at the age of 97.