Jeremy Goldbach, a nationally recognized scholar on LGBTQ+ mental health and the inaugural Masters & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Sexual Health and Education at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, died Saturday, June 7, 2025, of cancer. He was 42.
Goldbach also served as associate dean for faculty affairs at the Brown School, where his loss is deeply felt across the community.
“The Brown School has lost one of its pillars,” said Dorian Traube, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School. “Jeremy was a teacher, researcher, administrative leader, and supremely witty, wholehearted friend.”
For more than 15 years, Goldbach dedicated his career to research and teaching aimed at reducing stigma and advancing the well-being of LGBTQ+ children and adolescents. His work received support from numerous organizations, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Defense and several foundations.
In 2010, he co-developed Proud & Empowered, a program designed to help empower LGBTQ+ youth and improve school climate.
In 2022, he was named the school’s first Masters & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Sexual Health and Education, an appointment honoring pioneering sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson, who conducted much of their work at WashU. At the Brown School, Goldbach also directed the Sexuality, Health and Gender Center.
Memorial details will be shared later.
Read the full obituary on the Brown School website.