[3] Goldman received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in geology in 1952 and a Master of Science in zoology in 1955, both from the University of Illinois.
[5][6] From 1957 to 1958, Goldman worked as a Fisheries Research Biologist for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska.
In 1991 he was a founder if the Tahoe-Baikal Institute which sponsored exchange between students in the United States and Russia who are interested in environmental management.
[7]Goldman did environmental studies on the impacts of hydroelectric dam projects in Honduras, Costa Rica, Argentina, Ecuador, Nigeria and Papua New Guinea.
He received the Dianne Feinstein conservation award from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in 2022 for his research and environmental leadership.
[5] UC Davis's Goldman-Schladow Limnology Fellowship is named in his honor through the Tahoe Environmental Research Center.