Stuart Myles Godin

Stu Godin lived a life full of enough adventure and accomplishment to fill ten lives. Born in Brooklyn, New York to his loving parents, Milton and Kathryn, he excelled in sports during his school years, especially wrestling and lacrosse. It was also during this time that he developed a love for the American West and the great outdoors that would last a lifetime.

Always an entrepreneur, Stuart Godin graduated Muhlenberg College with a degree in Finance. He married and moved to California, and, after owning several businesses, entered the Merrill Lynch trainee program in New York in the early 1960’s. He excelled at the company and rose to become a partner in the firm.

In 1969 Stu enjoyed one of the great adventures of his life, a six-week bush safari in Tanzania and Kenya with the famous hunting guide Glen Cottar. He subsequently hunted big game all over the world, securing world record class trophies and enjoying the beautiful locales where the pastime took him, the people he met, and the comradery of his fellow hunters. He was an enthusiastic member of the Southern California Safari Club and in 1972 was the youngest founding and subsequently sole living board member of what would become a world-wide organization, the Safari Club International.

Stuart Godin lived his entire adult life in the Los Angeles area, but also built a ranch, The Circle G, near Bondurant, Wyoming with his family in the early seventies. There he enjoyed many years of adventure -  hiking and horseback riding in the summers, and snowmobiling and skiing in the winters. He loved to hold his annual “fiasco” in the winters when he would bring friends and clients to the ranch to enjoy winter sports and good scotch in rustic surroundings.

Stu had many close friends in Southern California and enjoyed great times with them. He engaged fully with the world. He was an avid reader and enjoyed a good political debate.  He was a loyal and devoted friend who brought joy, comfort, and real support to the people he cared about, especially when they were in need. He was a man’s man, gifted with an intellect and sensitivity that made the world a place full of wonderful possibilities for him and the people he loved.

Stuart M. Godin will be greatly missed by his friends, his wife Elaine, his children Michael and Debra, his four grandchildren, his nephew Brandon whom he raised as his second son, and a world that could use much more of the warmth, enthusiasm and ingenuity that he possessed.

Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the African Wildlife Foundation, AWF.Org.