Sandy, the actor you are thinking of was Phillip Loeb, who played the male lead in the show. He was dropped from the show, and the role was recast (a couple of times, from what I've read.) He did end up committing suicide in 1955, after being unable to get any work because of the McCarthy witch hunts.
The only episodes of the "Goldbergs" I have ever seen were from the last season, where the male lead was played by Robert Parker (I think). It was run on our local PBS outlet (out of Watertown, NY) on Saturday nights for a few months back in the late '90's.