US Marine, construction manager, certified building official, instructor

Theodore (Ted) Newman died October 24 in San Dimas after several years of declining health.  He was 70 years old. 

Ted was born in Washington, DC in 1948, the sixth of seven children to Dorothy and Cave Newman. Following graduation in 1968 from Calvin Coolidge High School, he served in the US Marine Corps, including two years in Europe as a seagoing Marine on the U.S.S. Little Rock (CLG-4).

During this time he served on the staff of the Commander of the Sixth Fleet and had the opportunity to visit much of Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. Following his time in Europe, he was stationed for 11 months in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After his time in Cuba he became a weapons and tactics instructor at California’s Camp Pendleton.

During his time in Europe Mr. Newman took courses through American University as part of the United States Armed Forces Institute. During his last six months in the Marine Corps he studied at UCLA. 

He then returned to Washington, DC and worked as a consultant to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. He married, and that union produced a son, Shawn Newman.

Mr. Newman relocated to Southern California in 1979, where he worked in construction management and building inspection services while completing his bachelor’s degree in business management and becoming a certified building official.

He moved to Claremont in 1987 and married Belle Coats Goehring. They later divorced but remained close friends, traveling together to Europe and national parks all over the West.

 Between 1989 and 2001 he managed the development on tribal land of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, including a 590-acre resource recovery park with a bio-mass fueled power plant and a tire recycling facility. In 2001, he established his own inspection business and in 2006 became an instructor in construction project management at San Joaquin Valley College. 

Mr. Newman enjoyed hiking and fishing, and supported environmental causes. He testified before the US Congress on one occasion on the need to protect the Alaskan tundra. 

He was preceded in death by his brothers Bob and Irvin Newman; and sisters Gertrude and Constance Newman.

Mr. Newman is survived by Belle Newman; brother, James Newman; sister, Betty James; son, Shawn Newman; stepsons, Nathan Goehring and Matthew Goehring and their families; nephew, John Newman; and numerous cousins, nephews and nieces. 

He will be remembered by his family and friends for his infectious laugh.