George Goudreau, Sr., NAHB Charter Member, Co-founder of Cleveland HBA, Dies at 101
George J. Goudreau, Sr., a charter member of NAHB, co-founder of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cleveland and the founder of his own home building company, The Goudreau Companies, died on Wednesday, Jan. 5. He was 101.
Goudreau was one of the 250 founders and a charter member of NAHB. He served the NAHB Executive Committee and was a senior life director.
In 1943, Goudreau founded and became the first president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cleveland and simultaneously founded the Ohio Home Builders Association, serving as its first president in 1944. NAHB inducted Goudreau into the National Housing Hall of Fame in 1985.
During World War II, Goudreau also banded together with about a dozen other builders to fight building restrictions on materials and locations during wartime. They realized that broader support was needed in order to be recognized in Washington, D.C., and Goudreau eventually helped found NAHB.
One of four children of French Canadian immigrants, Goudreau’s family arrived in Cleveland in 1914. Goudreau graduated from the Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve) with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, business law, architecture and construction estimating in 1925. A year later, he founded The Goudreau Companies.
Goudreau was married to Lenore A. Winters for 68 years. Their son, George J. Goudreau, Jr., was the 1996 president of the HBA of Greater Cleveland.