According to a bio on the court's pages, Goderich was appointed in 1975 by Governor Reubin Askew as a judge of Industrial Claims. In 1978, Askew appointed Goderich to the 11th Judicial Circuit. Voters reelected Goderich when he ran unopposed in 1980 and 1986. Governor Bob Martinez elevated Goderich to the 3rd District in 1990. He was the first Cuban American to sit on all three of those courts.
"Judge Goderich followed the hard path worn by many Cuban professionals who emigrated to the United States in the 1960s," said Interim Dean Nell Jessup Newton. "He persevered, and we are proud of his many, many accomplishments."
A Journey from Cuba
Born in Santiago de Cuba, Oriente, Cuba, his parents enrolled him in high school in Virginia. After graduating from high school, he returned to Cuba, where he attended the University of Havana School of Law. He received his Doctor of Civil Laws degree in 1957. He practiced law in Cuba with the firm of Castellanos & Goderich.
Goderich immigrated to the U. S. in 1961, working in non-legal positions to support his family. He worked his way through Miami Law in two-and-a-half years, receiving his J.D. in 1966. After becoming a citizen, The Florida Bar admitted him in 1969.
While going through the naturalization process and ineligible for Bar admission immediately after law school graduation, he took the position of associate law librarian at Miami Law, later becoming the director of the library and an instructor of law.
"Mario was the library's director when I arrived as a new faculty member in 1974," said Dean Emeritus Dennis Lynch. "He was warm and helpful to new faculty and immediately took an interest in the empirical research I had been doing on the legal profession in Colombia and guided me to resources I could use in the library. He helped design and implement an academic program approved by The Florida Bar that provided an opportunity for lawyers educated in Cuba to study in a special program offered by Miami Law's faculty allowing its graduates to take the bar and to practice law in Florida.
"He went on to a wonderful judicial career. The law faculty was very proud of his accomplishments and for his leadership within the Cuban American Bar. As a founding member and first president of the Cuban American Bar Association he also made sure Miami Law maintained a close relationship with CABA that we still benefit from today. He was a modest thoughtful man who made us all very proud and thankful for all he did for our community,” said Lynch.
Goderich published several works on international law, legal research, and comparative law, including The Role of the Judiciary in the New Constitution, Bill of Rights in the Colombian Constitution (1993). From 1995 to 1997, he served on the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases. Goderich had been a member of the Dade County Bar Association since 1969, a member of the American Bar Association, and a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation.
According to his official bio, Goderich received numerous honors and awards. In 1981, the Florida Council on Crime and Delinquency named Judge Goderich in its Outstanding Judge recognition. In March 1986, the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review presented him with The Lawyer of the Americas Award. In 1988, the Republic of Colombia bestowed the Order of Democracy on Goderich. He was the first recipient of the Francisco Garcia-Amador Award presented by the former Center for Hispanic and Caribbean Legal Studies at the University of Miami School of Law in 1997. He was honored in 2004 with then St. Thomas University School of Law's Jurist of the Year Award and by the creation of a Cuban American Bar Association Merit Scholarship in his name at Florida International University.
Goderich retired from the Court in 2005 upon reaching mandatory retirement age.
