Dr. Roger Kaufman

Roger is survived by his wife, Jan of 56 years; his three children, Nancy (Mike), Jac (Stefanie), and Richard; grandchildren, Justin (Allison), Billy, Sam, Zack, and Sunny.

Roger Kaufman was professor emeritus, Florida State University, and served as Distinguished Research Professor at the Sonora Institute of Technology (Mexico). He received ATD’s Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance award. Also, he was a past president, honorary member for life, and Thomas Gilbert Award winner, all with ISPI.

In the late 1960s, during his career as an engineer, Roger designed and created with Ken Wallace, the first turbine car to race in the Indianapolis 500. Roger has published 41 books and 315 articles on strategic planning, performance improvement, quality management, and continual improvement, needs assessment, management, and evaluation.

He consulted world-wide with public, private, and NGO organizations, the most recent of which include the President and Minister of Tourism of Panama, the University of Puerto Rico, the Civil Service Commissions of Taiwan, and the Tze-Chain Foundation of Science and Technology, as well as the Korean Government.

At Florida State, he created the Center for Needs Assessment and Planning that did applied research and development. The literature often sites him as “the father of needs assessment.” The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) created the Roger Kaufman Award for Societal Impact. The Kaufman Award, first instituted in 2014, recognizes outstanding social impact at the public, private and non-governmental levels. The Kaufman Center, created this year, is the custodian of Roger's legacy, a think tank dedicated to promoting Roger's Mega thinking in social value-adding projects and ideas. Roger was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association as well as of the American Educational Research Association.

A Florida State University Scholarship will be created in Roger’s memory.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Kaufman Center through ISPI at https://gf.me/u/y2hwb5