Bernhard Willard Goetz (b. 18 April 1906) emigrated from Germany on 21 May 1928. He married Gertrude Karlsberg in August 1935.
Lived at 48-30 Poyer Street in Elmhurst, Queens, New York until the age of 3 when his parents opened a dairy farm and bookbinding business in Rhinebeck, New York in 1950.
Earned a bachelor's degree in electrical and nuclear engineering from NYU in 1969.
On 22 December 1984 he shot 4 black youths on a New York City subway because he claimed they attempted to rob him while brandishing a screwdriver. He was only convicted of illegal weapons possession.