In Remembrance: Paul I. Kaufman ’56MPH Died on August 2 2016

Colonel (Ret.) Paul I. Kaufman, passed away on August 2, 2016, at the age of 96, in Houston, Texas. 

Paul was a highly decorated colonel in the US Army and participated in the Normandy invasion, the brutal Battle of Hurtgen Forest during the Battle of the Bulge, serving as operations officer in the 103rd Medical Battalion, 28th Infantry Division. He was responsible for the transportation of scores of wounded from the battlefield to the nearest field hospital. For his wounds and efforts in the European theater, he was awarded the Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars, and later the prestigious Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal for his exemplary service.

In 1945, he joined an Army Reserve medical unit which was called back to active duty in 1950 for the Korean conflict.  From Camp Pickett, Virginia, he was transferred to Tripler Army Hospital in Hawaii (still a territory) where his combined pharmacy and management skills were needed. In 1958, at the urging of a former commander, he rejoined the military as a regular army officer. His primary assignment at Fort Sam Houston was as an assistant professor in the Baylor University Master of Hospital Administration program. Then followed a series of assignments as an executive officer in US Army hospitals in Landstuhl, Germany, Indianapolis, Fort Hood, Texas, and then Fort Benning, Georgia, where he retired in May 1973.

The family then moved to Houston where Paul began a second distinguished career as a hospital administrator in Texas, first at Hermann Hospital, then Houston Northwest Medical Center, Rusk State Hospital, Memorial Southwest Hospital, and finally as vice president for project and construction management for Memorial Care Systems. Paul was a Fellow of the American College of Hospital Administrators and served as a regent-at-large. After his second retirement, he came full circle by volunteering in the Memorial Southwest Hospital pharmacy well into his 80s.   

Regardless of location, military or civilian, Paul always managed to locate and participate in a weekly poker game. Before the age of modern communication, he was an avid ham radio operator, (W5SOE) tapping Morse code to contacts around the world.

Paul is survived by Bernice, his loving wife of 65 years, his beloved children Lisa (Edward) Griffith of New York City , Carol (James McMillan) Kaufman of Asheville, NC, Mark Kaufman of Houston, Sandy Bennett of New York City, and his adored grandchildren Rachael (David) Coe, Haley Bennett, and Evan Griffith.

A full obituary is posted on dignitymemorial.com.

—Submitted by the family.