Maurice Kouffman, 98, Pilot and Zionist

Maurice H. Kouffman, a recipient of Israel’s Medal of Honor who helped start El Al Israel Airlines in 1948 and was a founder of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton, died on June 5 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. He had remained active until his death, at 98.

Seven months before the State of Israel was established, Mr. Kouffman, a Zionist and World War II veteran who had been a fighter pilot, flew missions to help the fledgling state and to train Israeli Air Force pilots. He had been a pilot in the European and North African Theaters from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. He graduated from the Air War College at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas as a second lieutenant, and from 1946 to 1974 served in the Air Force Reserves, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He also flew for commercial airlines, including Trans-Caribbean Airlines, until 1950, and was chief of North American operations from 1950 to 1958 for El Al. 

In East Hampton, Mr. Kouffman was the president and owner of MKL Construction, which he started in 1959. He also owned East Hampton Real Estate from 1958 to the present, co-owned the old Star Lanes bowling alley in East Hampton from 1959 to 1964, and was a co-owner of East Hampton House, a motel, from 1965 to 1975.

Maurice Henry Kouffman was born on April 1, 1920, in Providence, R.I., one of 11 children of Henry Abraham Kouffman and the former Fanny Litchman, who had immigrated to Rhode Island from Bessarabia in Eastern Europe. He graduated from Classical High School there, where he was captain of the field hockey, baseball, and football teams. He remained an active athlete throughout his life, doing morning exercises and stretches until recently, and playing tennis regularly until he was 86.

Mr. Kouffman and his wife, the former Marilyn Miller, who were married on Aug. 6, 1947, lived for 38 years on Hither Lane in East Hampton. The couple also lived at various times in Israel, Washington, D.C., and Levittown.

“He was a soft-spoken man of good humor and patience, who carried himself with quiet dignity,” his family wrote in preparing obituary material. “A kind, gentle, modest, and loving man, he had compassion for others less fortunate, and maintained a keen interest in American and foreign affairs.” He read The New York Times and The Jerusalem Post every day, they said.

In addition to his wife of 70 years, the Kouffmans had four children, Carol Kouffman, Heather Kouffman, Robert Kouffman, and Phillip Kouffman, all of East Hampton, who survive. Six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren survive as well. There was no service. The family received visitors on June 10 and 11 at his son Phillip Kouffman’s house.