David E. Gooding

1941 - 2019

July 21, 1941 - April 15, 2019 David Eugene Gooding, 77, died early Monday morning, April 15, 2019 at his home in Pacific Palisades following a long battle with cancer. He leaves his wife of 56 years, Ann, his children, Jeff, Karen, Jennifer and James, his brother, Dale and eight grandchildren. Born in Indiana in 1941, the son of Herb and Jean Gooding, Dave moved to Oregon where he attended Oregon State University and graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1962. He began his career as an Actuary at State Farm Life in Bloomington, IL, before accepting a position with Cal-Western Life in Sacramento, California, where he became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and rose to the position of 2nd Vice President. In 1974, Dave joined National Life & Accident Insurance company in Nashville, TN, and earned promotions to Senior Vice President & Chief Actuary. In 1983, Dave moved to the Los Angeles area to join Transamerica Life Companies as Executive Vice President where he held a number of significant positions including Board Member of Transamerica Life Companies, Chairman & CEO of First Transamerica of New York, Chairman of Transamerica Life of Canada and Chief Information Officer of the Transamerica Life Companies. After his retirement in 2000 he continued to serve on the Board of Transamerica Life of Canada and the Board of Aegon Fund Management of Canada until 2018. Dave cared deeply about his community and served many charitable organizations including on the boards of the Wellness Community – West Los Angeles for 30 years and the National MS Society from 1990 until 2011. As an avid golfer, Dave enjoyed his retirement at his residence at PGA West, where he and Ann enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Dave's deep intellectual curiosity, sense of humor, personal warmth, values and love of conversation led to many good and close friends and family that will miss him but always cherish the time and happy memories with Dave. A Memorial Service will be held for Dave Gooding at 3pm on May 5th, 2019 at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church located at 1031 Bienveneda Ave., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.