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Richard Kaufman performing with his wife (Courtesy of the Kaufman family)<\/p>\n Richard Kaufman performing with his wife (Courtesy of the Kaufman family)<\/p>\n
In the 1950s at Philadelphia\u2019s Gilded Cage coffeehouse, Richard Kaufman sang and played his guitar for circles of friends and strangers, mixing American folk songs by Pete Seeger and The Weavers with Israeli songs like \u201cDodi Li\u201d and \u201cYamin U\u2019Simol.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a Sunday afternoon song circle at the Gilded Cage, he met a teenager named Hannah, who would become his wife of 64 years. Music bound them early on, and his guitar remained a constant presence \u2014 heard in their West Oak Lane home, at Camp Galil, at youth gatherings and at countless family celebrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad always had a guitar in the living room,\u201d said his son Dan Kaufman, who plays piano. \u201cHe would pick it up every night and play. Music was a huge part of my childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Kaufman, a musician who came of age in Philadelphia\u2019s 1950s folk revival and later built a career in computer programming, died on Aug. 14 after a long struggle with Alzheimer\u2019s disease. He was 89.<\/p>\n
His story began in Philadelphia. Kaufman grew up on 77th Avenue, the son of Herman and Esther Kaufman, who were both teachers.<\/p>\n
He celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai in West Oak Lane, returning there 50 years later with his family. By then, the synagogue had become a church. \u201cThey were very welcoming,\u201d Hannah Kaufman said. \u201cThey even asked him to explain to the congregation why he was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his bar mitzvah, Kaufman graduated from the 200th class of Central High School. He earned a degree in chemical engineering from Drexel University.<\/p>\n
He worked for General Electric before switching to computers in the late 1960s. \u201cHe was an early adopter,\u201d Dan Kaufman said. \u201cHe started a computer medical billing company in 1973. Back then, it was brand-new, but he saw the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Richard Kaufman with his son (Courtesy of the Kaufman family)<\/p>\n
His company, Custom Computer Applications, handled billing for doctors\u2019 offices in the Princeton area. Kaufman also designed software for golf businesses, consolidating reports from pro shops nationwide. \u201cHe was ahead of his time,\u201d Dan Kaufman said.<\/p>\n
Even as he built a career in technology, Kaufman devoted equal energy to music, bringing it into his home and community. He accompanied his family to 25 annual Philadelphia folk festivals. He served as president of the Princeton Folk Music Society, organizing concerts and helping to keep the tradition alive for a new generation. He also taught guitar in libraries and community centers, where beginners learned their first chords from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was part of that early wave of folk musicians,\u201d said his son Albert Kaufman, who plays guitar and sings. \u201cHe was connected to the whole Philadelphia folk scene, and it shaped how our family experienced music.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ballad that first drew him to the guitar was \u201cGreensleeves.\u201d He mostly taught himself, though he took a few lessons from folk singers like George Britton, a local performer, and Gordon Bok, one of his favorites from Maine. With his trio, The Three Travelers, Kaufman\u2019s repertoire included Israeli songs, blending his musical life with his Jewish identity.<\/p>\n
His three children, including Liz, attended Camp Galil in Ottsville. At the Labor Zionist youth movement camp, Kaufman would entertain the campers with his guitar. He later traveled to Israel to visit each of his children during their Habonim workshop, a year of living and learning on a kibbutz.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe lived a very Jewish life,\u201d Dan Kaufman said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t something separate; it was just who he was. We were immersed in the Labor Zionist youth movement, and he was always part of that world with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Richard Kaufman at his daughter\u2019s wedding (Courtesy of the Kaufman family)<\/p>\n
Kaufman\u2019s wit was as memorable as his music. He loved wordplay and quirky jokes. \u201cIf someone asked him, \u2018How are you doing, Rich?\u2019 he\u2019d answer, \u201837,\u2019\u201d Daniel Kaufman said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t mean anything. It was just to throw you off a little.\u201d<\/p>\n
His signature farewell was, \u201cSee you later, crocodile \u2014 after a while, alligator.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also delighted in surprising people with whimsical gestures. Once, he bought a box of old trophies at an auction and handed them out randomly to friends. Each year, he made birthday mix tapes, gifting them to others on his own birthday. \u201cHe was generous like that,\u201d Dan Kaufman said. \u201cHe wanted to share what he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Music and humor made Kaufman popular with his children\u2019s friends. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t demanding at all with the kids,\u201d Hannah said. \u201cHe loved their friends, and they loved him back. He was very accepting, and people were drawn to his fun personality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years, the Kaufmans belonged to different congregations. In New Jersey, they were members of Congregation Brothers of Israel in Trenton and Adath Israel Congregation in Lawrenceville. When they returned to Philadelphia, they joined Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, where Hannah Kaufman had grown up and where her father once served as principal of the Sunday school.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just liked people,\u201d his wife said. \u201cAnd people liked him. He had a personality that was warm, quirky and unforgettable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Kaufman performing with his wife (Courtesy of the Kaufman family) In the 1950s at Philadelphia\u2019s Gilded Cage…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":175355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[99704,5229,99705,99706,99707,99708,99709,99710,401,32175,9455,1448,2830,1311,99711,99712,99713,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-175354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-albert-kaufman","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-camp-galil","11":"tag-central-high-school","12":"tag-dan-kaufman","13":"tag-esther-kaufman","14":"tag-hannah-kaufman","15":"tag-herman-kaufman","16":"tag-new-jersey","17":"tag-obit","18":"tag-obituary","19":"tag-pa","20":"tag-pennsylvania","21":"tag-philadelphia","22":"tag-philadelphias-gilded-cage","23":"tag-princeton-folk-music-society","24":"tag-richard-kaufman","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115091591152208653","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}