Former cop’s talents know no boundaries

By Judy Babb

At White Rock Coffee, customers come for the great coffee and pastries, but their treats are also visual. Cindy Gresham, the coffee shop’s art coordinator, rotates art in and out every month. It varies from work of local artists to student artwork from local schools. This month is Mitch Goldminz’s turn. 

Gresham says what makes Goldminz’s work so special to their clientele is that the proceeds from the sales go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This particular display of around 20 pieces features framed digitized portraits of pets as well as his paintings. To get a portrait of their pet, people send him a photo and in about three weeks, he provides the framed picture. Cost is $125.

Goldminz has been a lot of things before turning to art and raising money for St. Jude. He is a self-described New-York tough guy who grew up and fully participated in youthful misdeeds on the wrong side of the tracks in Brooklyn. He married and then moved to Dallas where he joined the Dallas police. He served for 12 years in vice and 21 years on patrol. 

“My Brooklyn accent and understanding of the criminal mind set me up for vice,” he said. Often, he was undercover and in disguise. He recalls with a laugh diving out a window when someone he had busted three weeks before came into an apartment where he was working another guy.

The end of his career as a policeman came 18 years ago during a Texas-OU weekend. He was in charge of 12 officers who were called, told to put on riot gear and go to Deep Ellum. He was to be fully involved.

“A supervisor gets more respect when he works,” he said. So that is what he did.

He stopped a man who was high on something from beating up a woman.

“I saved the woman,” he said. But in trying to handcuff the man, the man broke two of the officer’s fingers and fell on him, breaking his back. Goldminz had six surgeries and more than eight months of rehab before he was forced to retire.

“I did what I had to do,” Goldminz said, his stoicism showing. He now lives with constant pain from his injuries. The pain doesn’t keep him from doing the multitude of things he does.

The 75-year-old Goldminz has a gentle side that shows both in his art and in the love of his wife of 54 years, Minna. You see, Minna loves hearts, so many of his pieces of art contain hearts. 

His appreciative side shows in his generous gifts to St. Jude. While his current art now hangs in a variety of places, including White Rock Coffee, his start as an artist began as a teen and had a more unusual canvas — New York subway cars. His graffiti was non-offensive and often patriotic — American flags or patriots. He was also heavily involved in building sand sculptures at Coney Island. For Goldminz, his talent knows no boundaries.

While he was already giving to St. Jude, he has a special connection with the cancer research hospital. His grandson Zachary was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma when he was 8. He was treated at St. Jude. The best news came May 10. He is 100 percent cancer free. He will continue to get blood tests.

Goldminz credits his daughter-in-law Pam for saving Zachary’s leg from amputation.

“She’s one very smart lady,” Goldminz said of her research on the cancer. “They wanted to amputate, and she said ‘No.’ She had found a newly developed rod in the U.K. They were able to put the rod in his leg next to the femur. That saved his leg.” 

The rod must be replaced every couple of years to match his growth.

The former policeman paints acrylics on glass. He first sketches on the front side and then “paints backwards” on the inside. Once finished, the glass is framed. A number of these will be on display at White Rock Coffee until Oct. 1. Others are at the Cottonwood Market in Richardson. 

Goldminz also gives a lot of credit to Crest Cadillac for showing his work. The sale from there gave him a check for $11,600 to St. Jude.

And there’s more. In addition to painting, Goldminz and co-writer Bennett Litwin tell his stories of being a policeman with a fictionalized hero named Mike based on Goldminz. His sense of humor shows in these tomes. The books “Vice Wiseguy Cop” and “Patrol Wiseguy Cop” tell tales of his days as a policeman. He donates the books to the troops and dedicates them to the troops and first responders. The profits from the books goes back to print and donate more books. Both books are available on Amazon.

But that’s not all. He has two LEGO creations at Dulce Consignment in Dallas. The larger one, a LEGO city, contains more than 4,000 LEGOS, took 21 bottles of instant glue and 270 hours to make. The racetrack has Matchbox cars. The park has a playground with a child coming down the slide. It’s all in the details. It’s priced at $3,700 and all but the 25 percent consignment fee will go to St. Jude.

Simon Veeren, Dulce’s owner, says the LEGO works are a huge attraction for men. “One hundred percent of the men walk up to them,” he said.

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