About
Glorya Kaufman
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Glorya Kaufman is the younger daughter of Samuel and Eva Pinkis. Samuel was the production manager of Automotive News, which circulated throughout the United States, and Eva was a homemaker and a leader in the Jewish community, including serving as president of seven Jewish charitable organizations.
Glorya met and married building contractor Donald Bruce Kaufman in the early 1950s. They became partners in life and work from the time she sold her car and some jewelry to help Don buy his first building lots in Detroit. Her early contribution enabled Don to realize his revolutionary vision for home construction during the nation’s housing boom after World War II. He founded Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation (later KB Homes) with his accountant-turned-partner, the late Eli Broad, and the company became the first publicly traded home building company on the NYSE.
For more information and photographs about Glorya Kaufman’s personal and family life, visit the archive.
Glorya’s love of dance began when she first danced standing on her father’s shoes before she could walk. This love was fostered in her teens when Glorya frequented jazz clubs during Detroit’s jazz heyday. Sadly, her early childhood was marked with a condition called strabismus, where a child’s eyes are oriented in different directions, causing the brain to switch eyes without control and leading to visual problems that resulted in poor vision development. Strabismus is best corrected with surgery during pre-school, but the longer a child waits, the lower the chance of complete recovery. As a result of these early experiences, good and bad, it should come as no surprise that many of Glorya’s philanthropic endeavors evolved from her twin passions for dance and care for the disadvantaged.
For more information and photographs about her early life, visit the archive.
In 1960 the Kaufman family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to expand Don’s business and then on to Huntington Harbor in California in 1963 and Beverly Hills in 1966. In 1969 they settled down at “Amber Hill” – a magnificent forty-eight-acre ranch in Brentwood, California.
In 1983 Don died tragically in the crash of his experimental bi-plane Witch-Hawk, along with their new son-in-law Eyal. Their daughter Gayl was eight months pregnant at the time and her son, Glorya's first grandchild, was named Eyal after his father.
Glorya recovered from the trauma and loss of her lifetime partner by pouring her energies into philanthropy. She established the Glorya Kaufman Foundation, which enables Glorya to express her values and vision through a diverse portfolio of giving.
For more information and photographs about Glorya’s philanthropy, visit the archive
or continue reading.
Glorya’s autobiography The Gloryous Dance Affair can be purchased on Amazon.