In high school in Cambridge in the 1940s, they were known as the Gold Dust Twins. William and Bernard Goldberg, identical twins with good looks and athletic skills, went to law school together and ran their own law firm in Central Square for 60 years.
Always dressed in suits, crisp shirts, and ties, the brothers became known as the best advisers for immigrants who dreamed of owning restaurants and shops in the busy, eclectic square halfway between Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“First-generation immigrants need help figuring out the system,” Bill told the Globe in a 1998 interview. ”A handshake might work in New Delhi, but here it’s different. We help someone get a license for his sub shop. He works hard; we help him buy a house. This is the hardest-working population you can find.”
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William Goldberg, 87, died on Nov. 21 at his home in Lynn after suffering from a brief illness. He never retired, working in his cluttered Massachusetts Avenue office with his brother Bernie as recently as October.
“He was a wonderful brother. We never fought. We never angered one another. We always had one another’s backs,” Bernie said after another day spent working in their offices.
First came the Greeks, then enterprising immigrants from Bangladesh, followed by immigrants from India and the Middle East. Each wave marked a different era in global politics. Each new client often turned into a family friend.
Money was never the sole criteria for the Goldberg Law Firm, the brothers would say. They moved their office a few times but never expanded, nor considered leaving Central Square.
“They were more in the people business,” said former Cambridge mayor Michael Sullivan, who presided over a ceremony when the city turned the corner of Western Avenue and Green Street into Goldberg Square more than 10 years ago.
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“He had a tremendous sense of humor,” Bernie said, recalling how the twins managed to confuse people by dressing alike and pretending to be the other one.
As Cambridge natives and grandsons of Russian immigrants themselves, the Goldberg brothers appreciated their clients’ struggles and reveled in watching them succeed.
Mr. Goldberg accepted invitations to numerous Greek christenings and Indian weddings over the years and enjoyed going out to lunch every week at one of their clients’ restaurants.
Mohan Singh, owner of India Pavilion, was a dishwasher 35 years ago with a dream of opening his own restaurant when he first met Mr. Goldberg.
“He was always very friendly and very sincere,” said Singh, who now owns three restaurants. Mr. Goldberg, he recalled, liked dining on his restaurant’s barbecued chicken the most.
“The Indian community here, all are missing him. Everyone’s feeling a big loss,” Singh said.
At a cafe in the square known as Brookline Lunch, Manal Abu-Rubieh began to weep as she recounted how Mr. Goldberg helped her husband, Jamal, when he took over the restaurant in 1989. Jamal, a native of Jordan, cooks an array of American, French, and Middle Eastern cuisine for his customers.
Mr. Goldberg also helped Manal emigrate from Jordan. “He was like a father figure to me. They were like family to us,” she said.
Born in Cambridge, William Goldberg was the son of Mosier B. and the former Sarah Gorovitz. His father, who served in the Navy in World War I, was assistant city solicitor in Cambridge for 24 years.
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Mr. Goldberg graduated in 1946 from Cambridge Latin, where he was captain of the track team and dominated the 400 meter race. His brother competed in the hurdles. Both were named to the high school’s Hall of Fame in 1998.
The boys had two older sisters. They grew up in an era when their family gathered around the radio at night and danced in the living room to the songs of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and a young Frank Sinatra, Bernie recalled.
Mr. Goldberg graduated from Harvard in 1950 and earned his law degree from Boston University in 1953.
He was still a bachelor at age 32, living with his parents, when he met Harriett Rafkin over lunch at a restaurant called Simeone’s in Central Square. She was working nearby as a secretary at Sweetheart Plastics.
They married in 1961 and raised their four children in Swampscott. Harriett became a small business owner and operated the stationery and gifts store Henry Solo on Newbury Street for many years.
During services for Mr. Goldberg held at Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead, his children spoke about his unconditional love, his enjoyment of pulling pranks on friends, and his devotion to helping others achieve the American dream.
“He wanted to advise, comfort, and encourage. He wanted to make you feel at ease through humor and respect, a firm handshake,’’ said daughter Debby. “He was an advocate, an ally. Daddy hoped that with his help, his clients would lead a better life,” .
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He loved reading and taking his children to The Coop in Harvard Square, to “turn them loose” and let them browse. In later years, he ordered books from the shop and had them sent to his grandchildren.
According to his daughter Wendy, he liked to quote from a scene in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet’’ where Laertes advises his son: “‘Give thine ear to many, and thy voice to few.’ He was always there to hear us,” she said in a eulogy.
At the offices of the Cambridge License Commission, Mr. Goldberg was a favorite visitor. “He was a jokester and he would come in and crack us all up. He always had something funny to say,” said the commission’s executive director Elizabeth Lint.
In addition to his daughters Wendy and Debby, both of New York City, his wife, Harriett, and his twin brother Bernard, of Newton, Mr. Goldberg leaves another daughter Allison, of Lynn, and his son Andrew, who lives near Scranton, Pa.; and seven grandchildren.
Services were held Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead. Burial was in Temple Emanu-El Memorial Park in Danvers.
Bill never retired because he couldn’t envision handing over his clients to anyone else. “He didn’t trust anyone not to take advantage of them,” daughter Debby said.
J.M. Lawrence can be reached at jmlawrence@me.com