David Lance Goines was an artist, printing entrepreneur, printmaker, calligrapher, political activist, and author. He was born in Grants Pass, Oregon, as the oldest of eight children to the civil engineer and mathematician Warren Goines and the calligrapher Wanda Burch Goines.

At an early age, his family moved to California, where he and his siblings attended schools in Fresno, Sacramento, and Oakland. In 1964, Goines graduated from Castlemont High School in Oakland and went on to attend the University of California, Berkeley as a classics major. During his time on campus, Gaines took part in the Free Speech Movement and was expelled for a short time before being readmitted and finishing his major. Following his stretch at Berkeley, Goines spent most of his time as a printer, working with lithographs and furthering his interests in the fine arts. In 1966, he met and dated the future restaurateur Alice Waters, and they started a cooking column in the San Francisco Express Times. By 1968, Goines was selling prints and working on his book 30 Recipes Suitable for Framing, both of which provided him enough money to purchase the Berkeley Free Press and rename it Saint Heironymus [sic] Press.

Goines and Waters maintained a lifelong friendship, primarily through Goines’ annual anniversary posters for Waters’ Chez Panisse restaurant. His designs drew inspiration from a variety of movements, including Art Nouveau and ukiyo-e. Goines posters for Bay Area businesses and institutions were ubiquitous and highly recognizable.

As an author, Goines garnered acclaim after publishing A Constructed Roman Alphabet, resulting in the 1983 American Book Award. He would then go on to recount experiences regarding the Free Speech Movement in his book The Free Speech Movement: Coming of Age in the 1960s (1993).

Goines championed many causes ranging from anti-war movements during the Gulf War to AIDS prevention and blood donation.