JOHN GOELET

GOELET--John. John Goelet, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, who spent most of his life in pursuit of agricultural innovation, died in his sleep at his home in Upperco, Maryland on January 8th. He was 91 years old. His wife and partner of 70 years, Henrietta Goelet, was by his side. Born in Bordeaux, France in 1931 to Anne-Marie (Guestier) Goelet and Robert Walton Goelet, a New York financier and real-estate developer, John Goelet spent his childhood between France, New York, and Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated from the Brooks School in 1949 and from Harvard College in 1953. He studied Arabic and Farsi at Harvard, which sparked a lifelong interest in the Middle East. During a postgraduate fellowship in Cairo he met Henrietta (Fanner) Goelet. They married in 1954, and trekked together across Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, traveling by jeep and sleeping in the desert with local tribesmen. He was a gifted linguist, a born adventurer, and an unconventional businessman. He founded an agricultural seed company in Turkey; a cattle ranch and potato farm in Idaho; one of Europe's largest oyster companies in Brittany, France; and wineries in France, Australia, and California. His business interests had one common thread: challenging the norm. When he founded Clos du Val with Bernard Portet in 1972, it was one of the first Bordeaux-style wineries in California. In 1976, Clos du Val was invited to participate in the "Judgment of Paris", a blind tasting designed to demonstrate the superiority of the top Bordeaux wines to the new California labels, and the inaugural vintage placed highly. Ten years later, the French judges demanded a rematch, and Clos du Val came in first. He was also a significant art collector and philanthropist. He donated European, Persian and Indian works of art to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Harvard University Art Museum. He created a lecture series and a book fund for Arabic studies. He and his wife Henrietta co-founded the Bhutan Foundation in 1986. They also provided financial support for many years to the Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs, including an annual conference at the National Press Club in Washington as a counterpoint to mainstream media coverage of Palestine. Between his life of travel, his innovative approach to business, and his philanthropy, he had real impact across the globe. John Goelet is survived by his wife Henrietta and sons Philip and Christopher; their wives Anette (Hoegh) and Lucy (Ropner); six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. A celebration of his life will be held at the Unitarian Church of All Souls at 1157 Lexington Avenue at E. 80th Street in New York at 2:00pm on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be given to the Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation online at birthplaceofhope.org/donate/ or by mail to: 2000 P St., NW #310, Washington, DC 20036.