Stuart Goodman, one of the best loved photographers on Fleet Street, has died aged 72 as a result of contracting Covid-19 after attending hospital with a cancer diagnosis.
Goodman was both a photographer and a desk man working for agencies and national titles.
He worked for titles as diverse as the Swansea Evening Post, The Guardian, The Daily Mail and the Independent as a photographer and as a desk man on the Daily Star, Evening News and Evening Standard.
Harvey Mann, former Picture Editor of the Daily Mail said of Goodman: “He was a nice man,and he would always go the extra mile to get the picture I needed for the paper. I’m devastated and feel so sorry for his family.”
Goodman spent seven years as night picture editor at the Evening Standard.
He was particularly known for his ability to spot talented young photographers and many of Fleet Street’s finest owe their first break to him.
All the photographers who worked for him found Goodman to be a calming influence when things were going “pear shaped”.
Standard photographer Alex Lentati said: “I’ve never forgotten how Stuart helped me out and showed me the ropes when I started at ES way back in 1987. Always a calming voice on the phone… a truly kind and gentle man”.
A more recent picture of Stuart Goodman
After he left the Standard, the Goodman family left London for Norfolk where he worked as a freelance and studied for an MA in Photography at Norwich School of Art. He also taught photography.
He originally studied to be a teacher in Swansea and always claimed to have deliberately failed his exams so he could pursue photography and music.
When asked why he never got his teacher training certificate he would quip: “I failed needlework”.
Goodman’s two great passions in life were photography and music and he was a talented Jazz trumpeter, who played in an early incarnation of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Combining these two passions resulted in his first published picture, one of the NYJO in rehearsal.
In the past he was a resident of Broadway Market in Hackney and when the GLC wanted to demolish the street, Goodman was instrumental in setting up the Broadway Market Action Group which successfully campaigned and saved the area from the bulldozers.
At this time he produced an archive of work, which was published last month by Own It as a book titled: One Saturday in 82 on Broadway Market. Goodman got the first copies back on the day of his cancer diagnosis.
The book launch was already postponed, but his family plan to have this and a celebration of his life, when the situation permits.
Paying tribute to Goodman, an Own It spokesperson said: “We first met Stuart in 2018 and were delighted to welcome him into the Own It family.
“His candid black and white photography immediately spoke to us and we had the privilege of publishing his book two weeks ago.
“We are so thankful that Stuart got to hold his finished book and experience the great amount of support and love the book has received.”
Goodman and I had a running joke about his two heart attacks, the second very serious. At the time I was working for the British Journal of Photography and the then editor asked me to write an obit “just in case”.
From the moment it was written, he started getting better and was soon discharged from hospital. He demanded I keep it up-to-date as a preventative. Sadly it didn’t work this time, 32 years later.
Goodman is survived by his wife Annie, daughter Joanna and son Adam.
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