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Bernard Bennett Kaufman died October 23 of pneumonia in Westhampton. He was 82.
Known as “Bernie” to his friends and family, Mr. Kaufman was born on May 31, 1933, in New Haven, Connecticut, to George and Edith Kaufman. He was the third child of the family and the only boy. The Kaufman family survived the great New England Hurricane of 1938 and lived through the Great Depression.
Mr. Kaufman graduated from Hillhouse High School in New Haven. As a boy, he played the clarinet and the saxophone. After basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957, and was stationed in Germany, where he was assigned to the Army band.
Before his service, he studied at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a degree in business administration in 1954. After his Army service he worked in retail merchandising for Macy’s and Gimbels department stores, among others.
In 1985, in New York City, he married Eileen Kagan, his wife of 30 years. For the last decades of his career, he lived and worked in Westhampton, managing and developing several residential properties. He was an avid tennis player and an attentive follower of public affairs.
Survivors said he will be remembered as a man of common decency and uncommon good cheer, always genuinely interested in others’ lives, quick to smile, and even quicker with a quip to put others at ease.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Scarlett of Westhampton; and a sister, Selma Olick of Manhattan.
Memorial donations may be made to the Pioneer Chapter of Hadassah; email donorservices@hadassah.org for information.
on Nov 3, 2015