{{Short description|American music industry executive (died 2021)}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | nationality = | education = Columbia University (BA) | alma_mater = | occupation = Academic administrator, music executive | employer = New York University | known_for = Manager of Sha Na Na<br>Coining the term "trivia" | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = | family = }} '''Edwin "Ed" Goodgold''' (died May 7, 2021) was an American writer, music industry executive, academic administrator. He is known for coining the term "trivia" in 1965.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last1=Carlinsky |first1=Dan |last2=Goodgold |first2=Edwin |date=1970-03-08 |title='Boy, That"s Foresight' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/08/archives/boy-thats-foresight.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Benveniste |first=Alexis |date=2022-03-03 |title=The History of Trivia and Why Netflix Is Jumping Into the Game |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/crosswords/history-trivia-netflix.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He was also the first manager of Sha Na Na.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2021-09-13 |title=Edwin Goodgold '65: Father of Trivia, Manager of Sha Na Na |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/issue/fall-2021/article/edwin-goodgold-%E2%80%9965-father-trivia-manager-sha-na-na |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Columbia College Today |language=en}}</ref>

== Biography == Goodgold was born in Israel and grew up in Brooklyn.<ref name=":1" /> He attended Samuel J. Tilden High School and graduated from Columbia College in 1965. Goodgold was a history major at Columbia and was features editor of the ''Columbia Daily Spectator'', where he introduced the term "trivia" in a February 25, 1965 article, saying that “Trivia is a game played by countless young adults, who on the one hand realize they have misspent their youth and yet, on the other hand, do not want to let go of it."<ref name=":1" /> In trivia, "participants try to stump their opponents with the most minute details of shared childhood experiences," he wrote.<ref name=":0" />

At Columbia, Goodgold held Q&A sessions in dorm lounges with his classmates, trading questions about popular culture of their youth, and, with classmate Dan Carlinsky, hosted late-night call-in trivia shows on WKCR-FM.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steinberg |first=R. U. |date=January 24, 2014 |title=In Right Said Fred's lyrical masterpiece "I'm Too Sexy," which of the following is Fred not too sexy for? A) his shirt, B) New York, C) your party, or D) his pants |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2014-01-24/trivia-pursuit/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.austinchronicle.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jennings |first=Ken |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXi_rfgUWCcC&dq=%22Ed+goodgold%22&pg=PT137 |title=Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs |date=2006-09-12 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-58836-552-1 |language=en}}</ref> He and Carlinsky also produced the nation's first trivia contest at Columbia on March 1, 1965, and, later, the first intercollegiate Quiz bowls, open to the Ivy League and the Seven Sisters colleges, in October 1965 and February 1967.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Mary Jo |date=2010-06-05 |title=A Game That Turned Nixon Into a Factoid |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/weekinreview/06murphy.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Goodgold and Carlinsky co-wrote the 1966 book,''Trivia,'' introducing the subject to a national audience.<ref name=":0" />

After college, Goodgold studied at the New York University School of Law and was manager for the rock-and-roll group Sha Na Na. He then served as Americas manager for the English rock band Genesis.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-10 |title=Genesis interviewed: "We ended up as a three-piece because we had too many ideas for a five-piece..." |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/genesis-interviewed-we-ended-up-as-a-three-piece-because-we-had-too-many-ideas-for-a-five-piece-70663/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Uncut |language=en-GB}}</ref>

In 1992, Goodgold retired from his music industry career and took up an administrative position in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University as assistant to the associate dean.<ref name=":1" />

Goodgold died on May 7, 2021, in New York City.<ref name=":1" />

== References == <references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodgold, Ed}} Category:20th-century births Category:2021 deaths Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Sha Na Na members Category:Columbia College, Columbia University alumni Category:New York University School of Law alumni Category:New York University people Category:Trivia Category:Businesspeople from Brooklyn Category:Year of birth missing