Donald Kaufman
Donald Bruce Kaufman was born in 1922 in Detroit. In 1943, Don joined the Air Force just out of high school as a cadet and went on to serve as a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps.
After the War, he began his own company in 1945 called Cordell Construction Company that primarily worked on building additions onto homes. He hired many of his fellow servicemen to work alongside him. The company expanded into building homes in low income neighborhoods. Don saw a need in his booming postwar community: well-built homes that were affordable for the average working family. He worked hands on with an architect to ensure the style of homes he was building fit in seamlessly with the other homes in that area.
In 1954 Don Kaufman married Glorya Pinkis in their hometown of Detroit, Michigan.
As his business expanded beyond Detroit he brought Eli Broad, a young CPA and a cousin of Glorya’s by marriage, into the company. As a result of this collaboration grew Kaufman and Broad Homes, later becoming the largest home-building company in the United States. This partnership first started to grow when Eli spoke to Don about how unhappy he was in his career and Don offered him an office space free of charge.
They each had to come up with $25,000 for their stake in the business. Eli borrowed money from Glorya’s uncle while Don and Glorya sold their car, jewelry, and anything they could to help finance their dream.
With the money they were able to collect they bought two lots and called them the Award- Winning Homes by Kaufman and Broad, later named Kaufman and Broad Homes. Don was an innovator. He included appliances into the homes which at that time was not done. He came up with the idea of eliminating the basement in new home. This allowed for the cost to be several thousand dollars less than the average price at the time. This change made international history in the construction of homes allowing them to be more affordable for the average family.
For many years he worked 18 hour long days. With his hard work and dedication Don was able to retire at the age of 40. In the early 1960s, Don was now able to enjoy more time with his family and pursue an active, adventurous life. He was an avid pilot, skier, and scuba diver, and he and Glorya traveled around the world throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Don tragically lost his life in a biplane crash in 1983 along with his son in law Eyal Horowitz. Eyal was a young Israeli who had returned from the Lebanese war. He married Gayl Kaufman in 1982, and together they have a son named Eyal Donald Horowitz named after his late father and grandfather. This was Don and Glorya’s first grandchild, and one that Eyal and Don were never able to see as Gayl was eight months pregnant at the time of the accident.
Don is remembered by Glorya and his children as a man who loved life and was, along with his wife, an ardent supporter of children’s access to quality healthcare and education.
