04/21/2026 General, Modern & Contemporary Art, General Furniture & Decorative Arts, Boston / New England
BOSTON, MA—Doyle is honored to auction property from the Rabb Goldberg Collection of Boston, Massachusetts. The Rabb (Rabinovitz) and Goldberg families, best known for founding and operating the New England-based supermarket chain Stop & Shop, created an enduring legacy through their philanthropic and entrepreneurial ties to several of Greater Boston’s most prestigious institutions. Curated over three generations of collectors, this estate offers a more intimate perspective into this remarkable family.
Nachman Schleime and Yente Rabinovitz emigrated along with their children from Russia to the United States in 1891, settling in Boston’s North End. Yente opened a grocery store on 134 Salem St. Her children followed in her footsteps; by 1914, brothers Joseph, Jacob, and Julius Rabinovitz were operating a grocery business of their own across the river from Boston in Somerville, the Economy Grocery Stores Company (known as Ecco). Joseph’s son Sidney (1900-1985) joined the family business in 1918, becoming General Manager a year later and co-owner of the company in 1920. Like all three of his siblings, Sidney was educated at Harvard University. He oversaw the growth of Ecco in the 1920s and assumed the roles of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer in 1930, positions he would hold until his death. In 1946, Sidney and his brothers shortened their last name to Rabb and changed the company's name to Stop & Shop, Inc.
Sidney and his wife Esther Cohn had two daughters, Helene (1920-2012) and Carol (1931-2025). Sidney was a firm believer that family was foundational to the company’s identity. In an article for the February 1970 issue of Yankee Grocer, he expressed that “Successful supermarkets are built, not with bricks, but with people.” This approach was not limited to his business handlings; Sidney was a generous supporter of Boston institutions that worked to benefit and enrich the lives of people in their communities. He served as a chairman of Beth Israel Hospital, trustee of Harvard Medical Center, executive committee member of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, and president of Boston Public Library. His and Esther’s love of the arts, particularly nineteenth-century French painting, is commemorated by the Sidney and Esther Rabb Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts.
Carol Rabb Goldberg continued and expanded upon her parents’ philanthropic and professional endeavors. She attended Tufts University and later Harvard Business School, where she was the second woman ever to graduate from the Advanced Management Program. She was the first woman to sit on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In 1950, she married Avram J. Goldberg (1930-2022), who began working at Stop & Shop part-time while he was an undergraduate at Harvard, and Carol formally joined the business in 1958. When her father Sidney passed away in 1985, Carol and Avram took up the helm as president and CEO, respectively.
Carol served on the boards of the Tufts University Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the Women’s Studies Research Center of Brandeis University. She was a founding member of the International Women’s Forum Massachusetts, an organization dedicated to supporting and advocating for women who are leaders in their field. “It has been exciting,” Avram wrote in 1986, “to be married to someone who is way ahead of her time in the emergence of women as equal partners in our society, and to be part of the process.”
The couple’s style of collecting was undoubtedly influenced by Carol’s parents. While they did purchase works by major twentieth century abstract artists, including standout pieces by Alexander Calder (lot 1042) and Dale Chihuly (lots 1076 & 1077), it is clear that they primarily built their collection around objects that they loved. The result is a wonderfully eclectic group of artworks, furniture, porcelain, antiquities, and silver that tell the private story of this prominent, public-facing couple. Carol and Avram’s tastes trended more modern and contemporary than those of Sidney and Esther, but they also appreciated the modern traditional and impressionist styles that Carol’s parents favored. Works like Bernard Cathelin’s 1960 Vallee d’Orge (lot 1024) from the Rabb collection and David Hockney’s 1976 etching of Pablo Picasso’s The Old Guitarist (lot 1051) from the Goldbergs’ aesthetically bridge these two sensibilities and pull the collection into a cross-generational dialogue.
Married for over seventy years, Carol and Avram raised their children Deborah and Joshua Goldberg in Brookline, Massachusetts, later moving to their residence at 270 Beacon St. in Boston’s Back Bay. Josh attended the Putney School in Vermont, followed by Harvard University and Harvard Law School. He worked in several roles at Stop & Shop before moving into investment banking and law on Wall Street, co-founding the investment bank Financo. He has been involved with a number of philanthropic organizations, including Make-A-Wish, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and the numerous charitable foundations of the Rabb and Goldberg families. He lives in New York with his life partner Sarah.
Deb Goldberg attended Boston University for her undergraduate degree and went on to study at Boston College Law School and Harvard Business School. As she said in a 2014 interview, however, her “real MBA came from working in the business” with her family. She was elected Treasurer of Massachusetts in 2014, a position which she still holds. She has served on the boards of the Greater Boston Food Bank, Adoptions with Love, and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard Kennedy School. Deb is involved with the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and the 100 Club, among others. She lives in Brookline with her husband Michael and their two children.
— Rosemary Beck
Gallery Coordinator, Doyle Boston
Boston Auction Friday, May 8, 2026 at 11am
Boston Exhibition May 2 - 5
Doyle Boston at The Vendome
290 Dartmouth Street
Boston, MA 02116
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