Harold George Goldsmith

Loving husband, father, grandfather and pet owner Harold George Goldsmith passed away on May 20, 2017, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 70 years old. Born in Chicago, Ill. on Dec. 11, 1946, to Mary and Paul Goldsmith, he graduated with a degree in Philosophy from DePaul University in 1970. After college, Goldsmith moved to Israel to serve as a soldier in the Israeli army, fighting in the Yom Kippur War. While living in Israel, Goldsmith met and married his beloved wife of 45 years, Naomi Owerbach Goldsmith. He also served as head grower in a cooperative greenhouse in the Negev Desert, Israel, cultivating peaches, pears, tomatoes and cucumbers for packaging and exportation throughout Europe. In 1978, Goldsmith brought his growing knowledge to the United States, pioneering the country’s first use of custom-blended nutrients and fertilizer injection for the Moapa Paiute Produce, Co., in Moapa, Nev. In 1981, he founded Las Vegas-based Automated Fertilizing Systems, Inc., (Auto-Grow®), adapting his methods to the landscape industry and paving the way for commercial use of fertilizer injection with pH control for the high-pH-alkaline soils of Southern Nevada. A devoted friend and an astronomy lover, Goldsmith was also deeply concerned with the welfare of animals. He drove across town early every morning to care for a large feral cat colony living on his business property, even trapping each of the cats and having them spayed and neutered. He rescued his beloved dog, Daisy, from the middle of a busy Las Vegas highway. Goldsmith was pre-deceased by his father, mother, brother Ralph Goldsmith, and cousin Leo Michelson. He is survived by his wife; three children, son Micah (Mia) Goldsmith, daughter Aleza (Howard) Freeman, son Jonathan (Monica) Goldsmith; two grandchildren, grandson Egan Goldsmith and grandson Evan Freeman; and mother-in-law Jean Owerbach. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made on Goldsmith's behalf to Heaven Can Wait Animal Society. King David Memorial Chapel handled the arrangements.