87-year-old cyclist killed in SLO crash ‘had many years left,’ family says
Saul Goldberg was one of the healthiest 87-year-olds in San Luis Obispo County.
That’s according to his family, who watched him compete in his seventh triathlon at age 80, hike and golf regularly, and bike long distances until he was hit by a driver who fled the scene on July 23.
“You tell someone that Dad passed away and they ask, ‘How old was he?’ And you say 87. It’s almost like they’re thinking, ‘Well, he was old. He lived a good life,’” his daughter, Robin Finkelstein, told The Tribune. “But he had so many years left.”
Goldberg and 74-year-old Martin Suits were riding electric bicycles near the cemetery on South Higuera Street on July 23 when they were hit by an unknown driver.
Suits survived with moderate injuries, but Goldberg died days later in the hospital. The driver, identified as 44-year-old Vanessa Noblitt of Oregon, fled the scene, police said.
Noblitt was arrested and charged with multiple crimes relating to the crash in December, including vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence, DUI causing injury, DUI with blood alcohol content above .08 and property damage hit-and-run. She is expected to enter a plea to the charges at her arraignment on Jan. 22.
Goldberg’s family hopes for accountability in the case. In the meantime, they are holding onto memories they created with him — which are documented in about 60 photo albums.
Cyclist loved to help people, family said
Goldberg and his wife, Carol, met in New York in the late 1950s.
The two ended up at the same party,where they both had cousins who knew each other. Saul had actually brought another date, but once he saw Carol, he brought the date home and returned to the party.
“We went together after that. It was love at first sight,” Carol told The Tribune.
The two were married on Dec. 5, 1959 — Saul’s 23rd birthday. Carol was 22. They then moved to Gainesville, Florida, where Saul earned a master’s and Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Florida, then moved to San Luis Obispo in 1970 when he was hired as an electrical engineering professor at Cal Poly.
According to Carol, her husband has always been at the helm of the latest and greatest technology.
Saul bought a VCR as soon as it was released, stayed up to date with cell phones and even drove one of the first electric cars in 1980, Carol said.
Once he retired, he stayed on top of technology and would host classes for his neighbors at the clubhouse in their Avila Beach neighborhood to help others learn how to use their phones and computers.
He loved to help people, Carol said. And he was patient, Paul Goldberg, Saul’s son, added.
Paul said his father was his mentor and helped motivate him to go to school and stay on track.
“He would always be there either answering calls or just giving me a good direction to go, because I probably would have been lost without him a lot of times,” Paul said.
Saul’s favorite hobby was making Carol happy, his daughter told The Tribune.
“He did whatever she wanted. He pretty much lived his life to make her happy,” Finkelstein said.
When Carol turned 80, she told her husband all she wanted to do was a flash mob. Saul made sure she was sure, then he helped plan it out. They got a large group to practice the dance, and on her 80th birthday in 2017, Avila Beach saw a group of friends dancing in synchrony to “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond.
Carol even wore her wedding crown to celebrate the occasion.
Former Cal Poly professor retired in Avila Beach
Saul retired from teaching at Cal Poly in 2007.
He and Carol spent a year road-tripping around the country trying to find the best place to retire, Carol said. Then they realized that best place was actually about 8 miles south in Avila Beach.
One of their favorite hobbies was traveling, Carol said, and they went around the world.
“He was just very adventurous, and he made me adventurous,” Carol said.
One of Carol’s favorite trips with Saul was to Costa Rica, though Saul’s favorite place was central Florida, particularly their trip to the Ichetucknee River.
Longtime friends Stu and Janie Goldenberg — not to be confused with Goldberg — recalled a trip in which the two couples rode bikes from Seattle to San Luis Obispo with their kids.
The Goldenbergs met the Goldbergs at Congregation Beth David shortly after they moved to San Luis Obispo in the 1970s. The families became inseparable, living only a block away from each other. It also helped that Stu was a math professor at Cal Poly as well, he said.
The Goldenbergs and Goldbergs took the train from San Luis Obispo to Seatle with their bike gear, then biked about 50 miles a day to make it back to the Central Coast.
“I think that the dependence on each other is much stronger there than on a car camping trip,” Stu Goldenberg said. And Saul was absolutely someone you could depend on, Janie Goldenberg added.
Saul was also a great creative problem solver, Carol added, remembering once when the family’s Volkswagen Bus, which was pulling a camper trailer, broke down in Alligator Alley in Florida.
Saul made his way 25 miles to the city, rented a Volkswagen Bug, then secured the Bug to the Bus using a rope. Saul drove the Bug while Carol covered the brake on the Bus.
“He said the look in my eyes was terror,” Carol recalled with a laugh.
Carol said they had their retirement routine down.
The would meet with friends at the Hula Hut in Avila Beach on Sunday mornings, while Thursday was golf day. The other days of the week the two hiked or walked the Bob Jones Trail, and Saul also would swim and bike.
Saul even helped spearhead adding trail markers to the Bob Jones Trail, his wife said. He designed, fundraised and installed the signs along the trail, according to Friends of the Bob Jones Trail.
Sylvia Drucker and her husband golfed with the Goldbergs every week, Drucker told The Tribune.
Drucker remembers the way Saul would mention something silly on the course, but also how much he made his friends feel cared for.
“If you had a problem, he wanted to help. If he couldn’t do it, he’d look it up online how to do something,” Drucker said. “He cared so much, and he was like a brother to us.”
Later years were ‘happiest days’ in marriage, widow says
Finkelstein lives in Los Angeles, but she commutes to Avila Beach often to spend time with her family.
She and her brother realized after their father’s death, that their father still had their kindergarten art and photos on his office desk.
“Sometimes you just take things for granted,” Finkelstein said. “You don’t really think about it until people are gone.”
Finkelstein remembers her father being “very even keel” and couldn’t remember a time he raised his voice — though she was sure he might have when they were kids.
Paul remembers his father’s patience and intelligence and looked up to how he helped the people around him.
For Carol, her relationship with Saul grew stronger as they aged.
“I appreciated him more and more every day,” she said. “These were the the happiest days of our lives. You think you’re getting old and it’s not going to be as good, but it kept getting better.”
Carol has six photo albums on her living room coffee table, including their wedding album and a book of the photos from her 80th birthday flash mob party.
In her garage she has even more, preserving the memories of each trip and the 64 years she and Saul spent together raising their family and traveling the world.
This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
