Janice Goldstein Obituary

Janice Harriet Goldstein (née Wigoda) died peacefully in her sleep on Friday, October 24, 2025, at the age of ninety-nine. She was a tenacious spark with an enormously generous spirit and was very beloved by her husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and many friends of all ages. Janice was a doer, a fast walker, always available, and had a brain for numbers, proud to balance her checkbook to the penny. She was always out and about and knew every back alley and shortcut throughout the streets of Chicago. She was a master bridge player, loved reading, going to movies, sometimes watching double and triple features. She was extremely generous and there for so many people, taking care of family and friends with spunk and grit. Janice was tough and elegant throughout her life, from beginning to end.
She was born in Chicago on February 4, 1926, to Bertha Wigoda (née Udolph) and Harry Wigoda, the baby sister to two older brothers, Jerome and Jay (Joseph). She grew up in the city and attended the Chicago Public Schools, where she excelled academically. She attended Northwestern University, majoring in Commerce. She married Lawrence Goldstein in 1948, and they moved to Winnetka, where they raised their four children.
She is survived by her children: Madelyn Greenberger (Jeffrey), Walter Goldstein (Heather Hart), Nancy Goldstein Porst (Richard), and Joni Johnson (Brian); grandchildren: Sara Greenberger Rafferty (Kyle), Elliot Greenberger (Marco Hidalgo), Brandon Goldstein (Mahsa Olamai), Nat Goldstein, Margot Pendleton (Blake), Jacob Porst, Hannah Anenberg (Geoffrey), Rebecca Johnson (Spencer Willig) and Bruce Johnson (Lauren); great-grandchildren: Isaiah Greenberger Hidalgo, Golden Anenberg, Moses Anenberg, Ford Pendleton, Aleksander Willig, and Benjamin Johnson; nieces, a nephew, and grand-nieces and nephews who loved her very much. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of sixty-five years, her parents, her specially beloved Aunt Anna, her in-laws, Herman and Eva Goldstein, her brothers, all of her dearest friends, and her loving grandson, Adam Johnson.
The family requests that those who wish to honor Janice's legacy make a tax-deductible donation in memory of her to the Annual Fund of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she volunteered for many years; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Annual Fund; the Illinois League of Women Voters Education Fund, to support the democracy she held so dear; or the Adam Lowell Johnson Memorial Fellowship at Stanford University in honor of her dear grandson who passed away in 2020.