Tom Goodrich was the son of the prominent
sinologist Luther Carrington Goodrich who took him to live in China from the ages of 3 to 5. The family then moved back to the United States, where Goodrich attended school and did his military service. In 1953, he received his master's degree from
Columbia University. He wanted to teach overseas, so he accepted a position in
Turkey at a middle school for boys, where he taught for four years. He then spent an additional year in Turkey teaching at a high school for girls in
İzmir. It was during this time abroad that he met his first wife Carol "Rusty" Wright. == Scholarly career ==