Lakewood Ranch High mourns death of physics teacher

Students of Lakewood Ranch High School physics teacher Dan Goodman always knew when it was near the end of class. 

He would offer one of his “Goodman-isms.”

“Wrap-up, back-up and pack-up,” he would say.

Tammy Harper, a science teacher at Lakewood Ranch High, remembered how Goodman, who died of a heart attack May 14 at 80 years old, would respond when someone would ask how he was doing. 

“He would say he was ‘doing finer than a hair on a toad split 12 ways,’” Harper said with a laugh.

The physics teacher’s “Goodman-isms” are some of the things students, teachers, staff and family will miss most about him. 

Danyelle Whitt, Goodman’s daughter, said her father was larger than life and a wonderful man who cared for others and who loved teaching, a profession he didn't undertake until he was in his late 60s. 

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She said her father, who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for 21 years before working with the military on missile defense projects and then as a consultant as a non-particle physicist, had a passion for passing on his knowledge to younger generations. 

“He loved it when he saw that students got it," Whitt said. "Dad knew when it clicked in their brain. I know that when he saw that click, that gave him the most joy.”

Goodman started working for the NASA at 19 years old, developing control systems for the Saturn V rocket and Apollo moon landing programs.

At NASA, he worked half his career at the Marshall Space Flight Center and the other half at the Johnson Space Center where he served as the data center director. 

He would tell Whitt about the challenges of working on space missions. She said he was a part of the team that discovered NASA would need to design and construct wheels made out of metal for a lunar roving vehicle because of the weightless atmosphere.

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He worked on the Patriot, the country's most sophisticated and coveted missile defense system, and assisted in solving problems with the guidance systems during an Apollo mission. 

It wasn't until late in his life that he earned his Florida teaching certification.

“He told me, ‘I (finally) decided what I wanted to be when I grew up,’ which was a physics teacher,” Whitt said. 

Much like in her childhood, Whitt knew his students could never get anything past her father.

One night as a teenager she snuck out of the house, but her father caught her sneaking back in. 

“That was the last time I ever did that,” Whitt said with a laugh. “I would try to pull one over on him, and my dad is one you cannot pull one over on. I don’t care how hard you try, I don’t care how good you are, it’s just not going to happen.”

She said her father always allows his students to learn from their mistakes.

“He would give you his opinion, his education and his knowledge, and then it was up to you on what you did with it,” she said. 

Harper said Goodman found a way to incorporate his life and professional experiences into his lessons to bring a sense of reality to physics. 

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Goodman started the StellarXplorers Space STEM Program and the Advanced Placement Computer Science course at Lakewood Ranch High. 

The StellarXplorers Space STEM Program, which the Air and Space Forces Association created, inspires middle and high school students to enter into careers in aerospace, aviation and other STEM disciplines. 

“He was willing to start a new program and get kids interested, and to even compete statewide and nationally,” said Bryan Thomas, the chair of the science department at Lakewood Ranch High. “There’s a lot to be said for that because we have such a diverse population of students on our campus and a diverse population of interests. It takes a lot of people to provide opportunities for the students to do things like Dan did with his StellarXplorers.”

While Goodman, who spent the final four years of his 12-year teaching career at Lakewood Ranch High, was an inspiration to some students, Whitt considered her father to be her hero. 

“He was the bright star in the sky,” she said. “He was always my North Star.”

Her father was a flight instructor, and she loved the times they would go flying together when she would visit him in the summer. 

“We went flying every opportunity there was,” Whitt said. “He would always make me lose my stomach. He got a kick out of (doing tricks in the sky). He liked doing the rollercoasters in the plane.”

Thomas said he learned more about Goodman and his personal life during Friday meetings where the teachers spent time getting to know each other rather than “talking shop.”

The science department teachers would take turns hosting the meeting in their classrooms and bring a dessert to share. Goodman’s go-to dessert always was ice cream, Thomas said. 

Thomas admired Goodman for his dedication to his students. He said Goodman was at school before 6:30 a.m. every day.

Harper said when Goodman came in to start the school year, he already had his lessons planned out for the entire year. The two early birds, who had classrooms next to each other, would spend the morning talking about their plans for the day. 

“It was nice to have a coworker to come together with every morning,” Harper said. “I’m going to miss walking into school and seeing his door open at 6:30.”