Lee Kaufman, Who Cleaned Her Way to Late-Life Stardom, Dies at 99

Mrs. Kaufman lived 90 years without being a celebrity or wanting to be one. She was born Leah Marion Auerbach on Oct. 4, 1922, in Brooklyn, where her father, Adolph, owned an event hall used for weddings and such and her mother, Rebecca (Ball) Auerbach, was a homemaker.

Mrs. Kaufman, who had a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and a master’s degree from Queens College, became an elementary-school teacher. She married Bernard Allen in 1944, and they had two children before his death in 1965.

Mr. Kaufman, too, was widowed when he met his future wife a few years later. She had retired from teaching by then but was teaching a summer school session. Mr. Kaufman, who owned a pharmacy, came to a parent-teacher conference.

“He walked in and, actually, he referred to Scotty, his youngest son, who needed a little help,” Mrs. Kaufman recalled when the couple appeared on “Today” in September 2013.

Mr. Kaufman, in the same interview, described their meet-cute a little more bluntly.

“I said to her, ‘Scotty can’t read for beans. What are you going to do about it?’” he said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/business/media/lee-kaufman-dead.html