A Generous Gift Supporting Law Students Focused on Health Care

Marc Goldstone, who forged a career blending his love of medicine with his acumen in law, is providing for the next generation of health care lawyers with a Rutgers Law School scholarship.

Marc Goldstone set off to Rutgers in 1982 with dreams of becoming a doctor. A first-generation college student from a middle-class family in Aberdeen, New Jersey, he had ambition and drive, but after struggling with pre-med math requirements, he rerouted to another path toward a successful career in health care.

He went on from Rutgers College in New Brunswick to attend Rutgers Law School in Camden, earning his juris doctor while working full time as a paramedic.

“I’ve been a health lawyer throughout my entire career,” says Goldstone, who lives in Nashville. “It is one of the few fields of law where you directly impact people’s lives, where the decisions you make and the work you do can really help people’s experience with the health care system.”

In gratitude for his legal education, and to enable other first-generation college graduates to pursue a legal career, Goldstone has provided for a law scholarship through a $250,000 planned gift in his estate plans.

His scholarship will support law students with financial need and an interest in the practice of health law, with a preference for a first-generation student from New Jersey. In addition to his philanthropy, Goldstone in June became the president of the Rutgers Alumni Association (RAA), an organization for alumni from five schools in New Brunswick which is chartered by the universitywide Rutgers University Alumni Association (RUAA).

“At this point in my life, it’s not about what I’m taking in, it’s about what I’m giving back,” Goldstone says.

Inspired by Fellow Alumni

Goldstone said he was inspired by learning about gifts by two fellow alumni who were featured in the Rutgers Today newsletter: Jay Gutierrez CLAW’79, who made a planned gift to Rutgers Law School, and Stu Slamowitz RC’84, a podiatric surgeon he knew when they were undergrads in New Brunswick.

Slamowitz, who Goldstone volunteered with on the student-run first aid squad at Rutgers, created two scholarships—one for football, and one for biological science.

“Stu’s story about creating a scholarship got me thinking, ‘Why shouldn’t I do that? There’s a need, I should just do it.’”

While at Rutgers, Goldstone served on the first aid squad, and after graduation, he became a mobile intensive care unit paramedic. Years later, he was appointed to consecutive terms on the United States Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council by the Secretary of Labor, where he advised government agencies on issues related to providing emergency medical services nationwide. 

Goldstone now serves as chief legal officer for Wellpath, a health care company that provides medical, dental and behavioral health care services, mostly in challenging clinical environments like jails, prisons, and inpatient and residential treatment facilities.

“I started as pre-med and nobody told me math was involved, so it didn’t go well,” he says. “So I tried economics, and I tried accounting, and anything in numbers was just not my thing. I thought with political science perhaps I might have a career in government service and the diplomatic corps or maybe in international business.”

After earning his bachelor’s degree in political science and government, he worked his way through Rutgers Law School. Today he oversees a team of attorneys and professionals who handle the company’s entire risk management portfolio, including insurance policies, workers’ compensation, and the employee safety program, in addition to legal advice and counseling, and litigation. He likes the variety of issues and challenges he faces as well as the personal satisfaction his vocation brings.

“One thing about being a health lawyer is that if you’ve seen one health law matter, you've seen one—they’re all different, all interesting, and they keep you on your toes,” he says. “Whether it’s helping people afford the care they need, gain access to care, or receive investigational treatments when nothing else has worked, it’s meaningful and fulfilling work.”

Rutgers—the Only Choice

As a senior in high school, Goldstone knew a college education was an expense his parents hadn’t counted on, so he set his sights on going to the best school he could afford—and graduating on time.

“There was never going to be a fifth year for me,” he says. “A Rutgers combination of affordability and academic excellence made it the only choice.”

To help defray costs, he worked part time at whatever job he could get—working in a clinical lab, making pizzas, and checking IDs at his dorm. After graduation, Goldstone still had some student loan debt. With his experience as a volunteer EMT on the Rutgers first aid squad during most of his time as an undergrad, he took a job as an EMT for a year, then expanded his training and became a paramedic.

“That’s the best job in the world. You take care of people and save lives,” he says. “But it’s also a young person’s job.”

After scoring well on the LSAT, he decided to go to Rutgers Law School and, to pay the bills, continue working full time as a paramedic.

Rutgers Pride

Goldstone’s appreciation for his Rutgers education motivated him to support the Rutgers Alumni Association philanthropically over the years, but having lived in Tennessee since 2007, he found it hard to contribute his time as a volunteer. COVID changed all that.

“In 2021, there was a call for volunteers that was different: a request for people to participate who didn’t live in New Jersey, which had never been a thing before,” he says. “I thought, ‘Well, if they are open to the idea of somebody participating remotely, I think I’ve got something to contribute.’”

In addition to serving as president of the Rutgers Alumni Association, Goldstone serves in organizations that raise money to fight cancer, a disease which runs in his family. He is on the board of the Nashville Wine Auction, the country's oldest charity wine auction, and the Scott Hamilton Cares Foundation, founded by Olympic ice-skating champion and Nashville-resident Scott Hamilton, both of which host events to raise money to fund the fight against cancer.

He believes strongly that law school graduates should give back to the community from day one.

“Don’t wait to support causes that are important to you,” he says. “They don’t have to be legal causes. Find a cause you love, find people working toward it, and join them. That’s much more important than the number on your paycheck at the end of each week.”

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