|
Theodore Roosevelt
Kupferman - The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) announces with profound regret that the Honorable Theodore Roosevelt Kupferman, former President of the TRA, died, at the age of 83, on Saturday, September 20, 2003. Justice Kupferman served as President of the TRA, 1986-1990, and was a member of the TRA Executive Committee, 1982-2001, and was a Trustee for Life. Ted Kupferman was a former member of the City Council of New York, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and justice of the state supreme and appellate courts. Ted Kupferman's grandfather owned a German restaurant near NYPD headquarters in the 1890s, and Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt dined there and forged lasting bonds with the Kupferman family. Ted, born in 1920, was named for TR, and his sister was named Alice Longworth Kupferman . In the TR Collection at Harvard, we have a photo of Ted as a small child in 1924 with a sign advertising Theodore Roosevelt,Junior for Governor of New York. Ted was counsel and legislative assistant to the Hon. Stanley M. Isaacs, the Republican minority leader on the NY City Council. Isaacs had been a leader in the Bull Moose Party in New York City, and died shortly before being awarded (posthumously) the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal. Ted was elected to Congress in a special election , replacing John V. Lindsay, when Lindsay became Mayor. Ted was elected a judge repeatedly, and became known for his amusing and clever opinions as well as for quoting the Bible in his opinions. Ted was, indeed, a president of the Bible organization that sponsors National Bible Week. He was an expert on copyright and show business law, and early in his career had been a lawyer for Warner Brothers, NBC TV, and Cinerama. Ted is survived by his wife, Fran Liner Kupferman, and by his daughter Stephanie Kupferman, a lawyer with her father at Tunick, Kupferman & Creadore. He is also survived by a son, Ted, Jr., and a stepdaughter, Cynthia Valerio. His first wife, Stephanie's mother, who was from Germany, died in 1969. The funeral was on September 22. Theodore R. Kupferman had a great sense of humor and was easy-going in his manner. He was also highly intelligent, universally respected, and a man of principle. He attended almost every TRA annual meeting and dinner for as far back as anyone in the TRA can remember. His financial and moral support of the TRA was constant and generous. After he was TRA President, he went back to the office of Vice President, explaining at the annual meeting that the TRA "recycles officers." He always said that he thought that being a member of the TRA was a great honor, and he treated his membership as such. John A. Gable |