Eastern European Communism. He focused on the conflicts between the government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Solidarity trade union in Poland. It was a moving personal experience, as his father had been a political prisoner there before fleeing the country for France where Kaufman was born. His insightful stories on music, politics and the lives of ordinary Polish citizens came from his existing knowledge of and new insights into Polish history and tradition. For a short time from 1988 to 1989, and then in bi-weekly columns from 1992 to 1995, Kaufman wrote About New York, creating exceptional stories about ordinary New Yorkers. The widely read New York Times feature would be taken over by Pulitzer prize winner Jim Dwyer in 2017. In 1995, at the invitation of George Soros, Kaufman moved to Prague to edit Soros's publication, Transitions, which covered the social, economic, and political changes taking place in thirty countries moving away from communist rule. Kaufman drew on his experience covering Eastern Europe for the Times in the mid-80's and as Deputy foreign editor from 1989 to 1992, helping the times to organize their reporting on the collapse of Communism. He also wrote for The New York Times Magazine; after retiring in 1999, he wrote obituaries of world and national leaders. His books were well received and largely drew on the knowledge he had gained from his work as a journalist, the deep connection he likely had with his father, a Polish emigre with a considerable knowledge of both economics, and the political history of Eastern Europe. Death Kaufman died from pancreatic cancer at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center (now Mount Sinai Morningside) from pancreatic cancer on January 15, 2010, at the age of 71. More than a year after his death, Kaufman was included in the byline for The New York Times obituary of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. Several other obituaries he worked on in advance appeared in the paper in the following years, with one (for Kenneth Kaunda, the former president of Zambia) published more than 11 years after Kaufman died. Works Kaufman wrote seven books and thousands of articles that covered wars, revolutions, politics, and the 1960s in America. Mean Streets (Award, 1973), novelization of the screenplay by Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin The Nickel Ride (Award, 1974), novelization of the screenplay by Eric Roth The Gun (Award, 1974), novelization of the teleplay