Gloria Kaufman Smith

SMITH--Gloria Kaufman, Klein, Smith, retired United Nations official, on February 21st, 2008. She lived at 800 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Born March 8th, 1925, daughter of the late Erna and Emanuel Kaufman of Easthampton, L.I. Mrs. Smith was the widow of the late Sol Klein, President of Paul Art Press, NYC and a former wife of the late Irving Smith of Palm Beach, FL. She graduated from Freeport (L.I.) High School. She attended Miami University, Oxford, OH and graduated from Penn State University. She was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority and of the Phi Sigma Jota and Tau Phi Sigma honorary societies. Mrs. Smith earned an M.A. degree in Public Law and Government at Columbia University. She joined the United Nations in 1947 as a clerk; and at a time when women did not easily achieve success, she reached the rank of First Political Affairs Officer with the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs, retiring in 1985. During her career she served as President of the United Nations Theater, Secretary of the Society of Writers, and Member of the U.N. Panel of Counsel. In retirement, Mrs. Smith earned a diploma in Paralegal Studies at NYU and worked as a Legal Assistant at the New York firm of Newman, Aronson and Neumann. A former resident of Greenwich, CT, she was a member of the Soroptimist Club of Greenwich and Secretary of the Stamford, CT chapter of the American Jewish Congress. At the time of her death, she was a member of the Jewish Genealogical Society, the United Nations Society of Writers and the Representative to the United Nations of the University of Mississippi Center for the Study of Southern Culture. She was a member of the Board of Trustees and a "Guardian" of the Sutton Place Synagogue.