Lee A. Goldstein, age 75, passed away on April 17, 2026, in Baldwin City, Kansas. Born on June 18, 1950, in Chicago, Lee was the son of the late Filmore Goldstein and Evelyn (Zis) Goldstein. He grew up in Winnetka, IL, graduating from New Trier Township High School. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin (1976) and dual master’s degrees in Mathematics and Engineering from the University of Michigan (1980).

After completing his graduate work, Lee worked for a time as an aeronautical engineer for NASA in Ohio. But the majority of his life was devoted to the craft of poetry, where he worked tirelessly to find the exact words to capture the human experience. He authored hundreds of poems, culminating in several published collections, most notably Syntaxis and the two-volume set, On the Edge of a Mirror.

Even as a man of letters, Lee never lost his love for mathematics. He maintained a lifelong hobby of solving fun and challenging mathematical problems (Quora was a favorite website), and published several papers in professional mathematics journals. He loved the wilderness and had a special fondness for his cabin in Minnesota. His journey took him across the country—from Ann Arbor, MI, and Virginia Beach to Boulder, CO, before finally settling in Kansas, where he lived in Wichita, Manhattan, Topeka, Lawrence, and finally Baldwin City. He enjoyed the weekly meetings with writer’s groups in each of these communities.

Lee is survived by his older brother, Hal Goldstein, of Fairfield, Iowa; his former wife, Mariana; stepson, Vladimer; and cousins, Fran Donnelly and Linda Zis. He was preceded in death by his parents. Services will be held privately. Lee’s publications are available online.

1. We close with one of his poems, entitled Query:
2. “If a man is a ‘motive rationalization’,
3. That is, that there are explicit, or implicit,
4. If surreptitious, predicates,
5. Behind everything man does,
6. Then for the alternative, to compensate for this view,
7. I am too much, indeed, the ‘existent-iater’-
8. And starting from my very thoughts, my words- and on up,
9. Or beyond some routine of daily life- or that when seen as explicable,
10. As doubtful of the baser feelings, etc.”