Son ofSamuel and Miriam Goodheart. His mother emigrated from Bessarabia at the age of 18 and settled in New York, United States. He was a literary critic, essayist, and public intellectual who wrote more than a dozen books that affirmed the ethical and humane value of literature. Goodheart served as Edytha Macy Gross Professor of the Humanities at Brandeis University where he directed the Brandeis Center for the Humanities. His memoir, Confessions of a Secular Jew, explores his Jewish identity and coming of age in mid-20th Century New York. Later in his career, he turned to political writing, arguing for the value of compromise during a time ofincreasing po- litical polarization. Goodheart also taught at Bard College, the University of Chicago, Mount Holyoke, MIT, Boston University, and elsewhere. He earned his B.A. from Columbia College, his M.A. from the University of Virginia and his doctorate from Columbia University. Awards: Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters: Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2014; Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, Bellagio, 1989; National Humanities Center, Fellow, 1987-1988; New England PEN, Executive Board, 1983; National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Fellowship, 1980-1981; Christian Gauss lectures, Prince- ton University 1972; Guggenheim Fellowship, 1970-1971; Whiting Fellowship, 1969; University of Chicago, Willet Faculty Fellowship, 1965.