Background and Family

She was married to Leo Goodwin, Sr.

Leo Goodwin, Sr.

Leo Goodwin is most noted for founding GEICO in 1936, with his wife Lillian Goodwin, while the Great Depression was still in full fury.-Background:...

 and mother to Leo Goodwin, Jr.

Leo Goodwin, Jr.

Leo Goodwin, Jr. was born to the cofounders of GEICO: Lillian Goodwin and Leo Goodwin, Sr. He became involved in the family business. He filed for personal bankruptcy in 1976 and died at the age of 63 on January 15, 1978 of cancer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida following a two-month hospital...

 She moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...

 in the 1960s. She died in 1970.

Professional career

Lillian Goodwin worked alongside her husband to launch GEICO

GEICO

The Government Employees Insurance Company is an auto insurance company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that as of 2007 provided coverage for more than 10 million motor vehicles owned by more than 9 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance...

 and took an active role in virtually all aspects of the early operation. Lillian, a bookkeeper by profession, took on the accounting tasks but also worked to underwrite policies, set rates, issue policies and market auto insurance to GEICO’s target customers, federal employees and the top three grades of noncommissioned military officers.
She worked up to 12 hours a day at the inception of GEICO.