At the end of the Korean War, Lewis S. Goodfriend finished three years of work in acoustical instrument design and computer electronics and started a consulting and engineering firm in New York City. In 1953, the firm was one of the first consulting firms in the New York City area offering services in the areas of architectural acoustics, noise control engineering and acoustical instrument design. During the next several years the firm grew to include three engineers with backgrounds in musical acoustics, architectural acoustics and noise control.

In 1962, the firm had grown to include five engineers and two technicians and was doing studies of airport noise and noise from the Whippany paperboard plant in Morris County. The area had the appropriate quiet environment and suitable geologic conditions on Saddle Road in Cedar Knolls for the firms planned acoustical testing laboratory. Finding an available lot and builder, the firm now known by its present name, Lewis S. Goodfriend & Associates, designed with a local architectural firm, a modern acoustical testing and research laboratory, the Cedar Knolls Acoustical Laboratory. A major project, affecting residents of Hanover and Morris Townships, was the study of the noise impact and recommendations for quieting the gas compressor station at the corner of Park Avenue and Columbia Turnpike. After appropriate measurements and analyses of the operation, suitable silencers were installed by the owner and quiet was once again achieved.

In 1964 the firm changed it’s name to Goodfriend-Ostergaard Associates and continued to grow and provide acoustical and noise control engineering services throughout the United States and Canada and performed several projects in Europe. The firm purchased an early Digital Equipment Corporation minicomputer, a Digital Equipment PDP8, and began using it to provide environmental noise statistics as part of its community noise impact studies, changing the way environmental noise was evaluated throughout the country. During this period the firm grew to 21 people and added another office in Los Altos, California.

In 1969, the firm was sold to Zurn Industries, Inc. of Erie, PA., and became a part of Zurn Environmental Engineers with offices in Cedar Knolls and Arcadia, California. After three years, with the changing environmental enforcement situation throughout the country and a need for greater flexibility, Lewis S. Goodfriend left Zurn and reestablished Lewis S. Goodfriend & Associates in Morristown, NJ. After a year, the firm had grown to where it required more space and moved back to Cedar Knolls. The firm continued to grow and moved it’s offices in the early 1990’s and again, to our present location, in 1995.

In 2002, Matthew T. Murello purchased Lewis Goodfriend’s interests in the Firm. Currently the staff includes seven engineers each with multiple areas of expertise in acoustics and noise control. Mr. Murello, a professional engineer, serves as president while Lewis S. Goodfriend remains active in selected assignments.

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