Doris Toran Goldman; set up heart foundation

Doris Toran Goldman, 77, of Encino, Calif., a longtime Philadelphia-area resident who started a foundation to spread awareness of the heart condition that killed two of her children, died July 29 of cancer in the California home of her surviving daughter.

Mrs. Goldman was born in the Logan section of Philadelphia. She graduated from Olney High School and attended Temple University.

Mrs. Goldman was married to Alan Toran until his death. They lived in Havertown and had three children. She later wed Jules Goldman, who also is deceased.

During World War II, she sold war bonds and later became active in local politics. She was a delegate for John F. Kennedy at the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

After moving to California in the 1990s, Mrs. Goldman became director of the American Jewish Committee in Orange County. She had worked for the committee's Philadelphia chapter.

"She was born two decades earlier than she should have been. She would have been a CEO," her daughter Nancy Toran Duitch said. "Lunch with the girls was not for her."

Mrs. Goldman's greatest achievement was born of deep tragedy, her daughter said. Her 20-year-old son, Jack Toran, an athlete in seeming good health, died in his sleep in 1979. Twelve years later, so did her daughter Sharon Toran Turner, 29, mother of a 5-month-old son.

Mrs. Goldman channeled her grief into a dogged search for their cause of death. What she came up with was long QT syndrome, then a little-known defect of the heart's electrical system. Its victims tend to be children and younger adults. After her daughter's death, Mrs. Goldman persuaded relatives to undergo electrocardiograms. She, her daughter's son, and her surviving daughter were found to have the disorder.

She then cofounded what is now the Cardiac Arrhythmias Research & Education Foundation, which aims to educate people about long QT, encourages testing, and finances research.

"She was responsible for saving the lives of tens of thousands of others," said Duitch, who like, others with long QT, now takes medication.

Mrs. Goldman had lived in Laguna Woods, Calif., but moved to her daughter's home in Encino after she was diagnosed in May with lung cancer.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Goldman is survived by two grandsons; two step-granddaughters; and five great-grandchildren.

The funeral was Aug. 2 at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks Funeral Home in Philadelphia. Interment was in Roosevelt Memorial Park.

Contributions to her foundation can be made through the organization's Web site, www.careforhearts.org.