Joseph J. Kaufman: renaissance man.

Joseph J. Kaufmanwas born inNewHaven,Connecticut, on February 10, 1921 toKarl andTiny Kaufman. The family moved shortly thereafter to open a millinery shop in Worcester, Massachusetts. As a child of first-generation Jewish Romanians, his life in Blue Collar, Worcester, was challenging. Kaufman and his friends took turns “on patrol” whenwalking home from school to protect themselves from anti-Semitic bullies. His family stressed knowledge and scholarship, as well as music and sport. He excelled in Latin, French, and mathematics while harnessing his energy and athletic prowess throughbaseball, tennis, andfishing. Froma very young age, Kaufman was a gifted pianist—a serious avocation that would continue throughout his life. After his cousin, Jerry Bodlander, a physician in Eagle Rock, California, drew himWest, Kaufman enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1938. A surgical career in mind, he majored in zoology and psychology at UCLA, but pursued creative interests through coursework in history and music. He worked summers as a janitor in a Worcester factory and saved enough money to buy a car. Maintaining a heavy scientific and liberal arts course load, he earned Phi Beta Kappa honors and performed laboratory research on the parasite Diphyllabothrium latum. While playing tennis on campus, he met his classmate Phyllis Hordes and married just before graduation.He enrolled at theUniversity of California, San Francisco for medical school in 1942 and finished in 3 years—not uncommon during World War II—with Alpha Omega Alpha honors. Moving to Boston after medical school in 1945, Kaufman took a surgical internship at Beth Israel under Charles G. Mixter, Jr. Joe and Phyllis had 2 children: Joanna, born in 1950, became awell-known landscape architect, andPhillip, born in 1953, specialized in horticulture. He would subsequently remarry. Two Boston interactions piqued his interest in urology: cutting edge research at Beth Israel in the emerging field of peritoneal