Grieving Family Recalls Victim as Friendly, Kind : Kin: Goldmans tearfully tell of their son’s plans. Nicole Simpson’s relatives are in seclusion until services.

Family and friends of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman grieved in public and in private Wednesday, trying to concentrate on the goodness the two victims embodied.

At an emotional news conference in front of the Goldman family’s home in the Ventura County community of Oak Park, Fred Goldman wept as he tried to put his son’s short life into perspective.

“It’s hard to imagine that your flesh and blood, a 25-year-old, could touch so many people,” said Goldman, who was flanked by his wife, Patti, and daughter, Kim. “Ron was a special human being who didn’t deserve what’s happened.”

Meanwhile, at the home of Nicole Simpson’s parents in Monarch Bay, a gated community in south Orange County, a woman who identified herself as a friend of the family answered the phone and said the children of Nicole and O.J. Simpson--Sidney, 9, and Justin, 6--were staying with their grandparents.

The friend said the children had been told that their mother was dead and were doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. She said the family was not prepared to talk until next week after funeral services.

Goldman described his son as a carefree young man who quickly made friends wherever he went. He said he would not be surprised if Ron had struck up a friendship with Nicole Simpson.

“It was not uncommon for Ron to have friends who were young ladies,” he said. But his son never spoke of a more serious relationship with her. “We would have known,” he said.

Fred Goldman said the manager of Mezzaluna, the restaurant where Ron Goldman was a waiter, told him that when Nicole Simpson called to say she had left her glasses at the restaurant, Ron Goldman volunteered to return them.

“It didn’t surprise me to find out from his work that when Nicole called to say she left her prescription glasses that Ron would be the one to offer to take them to her,” he said. “His answer was, ‘I don’t mind, she lives close by and I’ll be glad to do it.’ ”

Goldman also addressed police reports that his son struggled with his attacker before he died. “If it’s true that Ron put up quite a fight, maybe to help Nicole, that wouldn’t surprise me either,” he said.

Goldman would not respond to questions about his son’s murder.

“I really don’t want to get into all the innuendo and rumors and all that other monkey business that’s been going on,” he said.

Kim Goldman, 22, said she hoped that the publicity surrounding her brother’s case would help lead to an arrest.

“As horrible as (the publicity) is, I’m grateful,” she said. “At least this way Ron will be remembered in a positive way and maybe it will help them find out who did this to him.”

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She said the family has not been in frequent contact with police and did not know about the status of the investigation.

Fred Goldman said tearfully that his son was killed just as he was beginning to put his life in order.

“For a long time, Ron’s aspirations have been multifold,” he said, recounting his son’s various professional plans, which ranged from becoming a tennis pro to working as a paramedic. Ultimately, he said, his son had decided he wanted to be in the restaurant business.

“He was telling me he had been looking around hoping to open up a place,” he said. “He was putting his life together.”

Goldman added: “Even when things didn’t go 100% with the things he wanted to do, he seemed to have a way of bouncing back. The bottom line is that Ron was a good person from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, inside and out.”

Ron Goldman’s mother, Sharon Rufo, could not be reached for comment at her home in Missouri, but a cousin said the family was preparing to come to California.

Fred Goldman said his former wife has been out of contact with their two children since Ron was 5 and Kim was 3. He said Kim called their mother to tell her of Ron’s death.

Friends said the funeral will be private.