Boulder Daily Camera editor Kevin Kaufman died Sunday morning at his home in Louisville from complications after a recent cancer diagnosis.
He was 62.
Kaufman served as editor of the Camera for more than a decade, guiding journalists through a turbulent period as a champion for robust news reporting who led innovation.
He grew up southwest of Denver in Littleton and graduated from Colorado State University in 1985. He served in the U.S. Navy and worked in construction and physical therapy. Kaufman began his journalism career at the Pekin Daily Times in Illinois and the Northwest Colorado Daily Press in Craig before joining the Camera in 1994. He helped guide news coverage as the city editor and as managing editor before shifting in 2006 to his role as the executive editor.
Among colleagues mourning his death, Denver Post senior editor Matt Sebastian, who worked with Kaufman for nearly 20 years, called him “a friend, mentor and fearless newspaperman.”
“He taught me, above all else, that journalism is not only vitally important but a hell of a lot of fun,” Sebastian said.
The Camera’s current city editor, Julie Vossler-Henderson, called him “a great boss, one of a kind. He clearly always had our back.”
The Camera draws nearly 2 million page views a month.
Kaufman also served as vice president of Prairie Mountain Media.
Camera publisher Al Manzi lauded Kaufman’s innovations to help independent journalism survive, such as creation of one of the industry’s first central design hubs.
“He was incredibly passionate, incredibly committed to his craft, very committed to his employees,” Manzi said. “He always defended them at every turn.”
Survivors include his wife, two daughters and six brothers and sisters.
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