People Remembered: Al Kaff
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Albert E. Kaff
Albert E. Kaff, 91, died of a heart attack at St. Vincent's Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut, at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 25. He was a longtime foreign correspondent and vice president of United Press International and later a public relations writer for Cornell University. He had been an OPC member since 1962 and was a long-time contributor to the publications at the OPC, notably the "People" and "New Books" columnist for the monthly newsletter, the Bulletin and wrote weekly for the website. There will be no memorial, showing or service. Gifts should be made to the Salvation Army. He will be buried in his birthplace, Atchison, Kansas.
He worked for UPI for 33 years, including 29 years in Asia. Retiring from the wire service in 1985, he spent the next seven years on the staff of the Cornell University News Service in Ithaca, N.Y. He now writes the "People” and "New Books" columns for the monthly OPC Bulletin, published in New York City by the Overseas Press Club.
Kaff was born on June 14, 1920, in Atchison, Kansas. He graduated in 1942 from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in economics. While a university student, he was a summer reporter for the Atchison Daily Globe in Kansas.During World War II, he served as a private first class in a U.S. Army Air Corps radar battalion in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies, Philippines and, after Japan's surrender, in Korea with the U.S. XXIV Corps.
Called back into military service in 1950, this time in the U.S. Army Infantry as a sergeant first class, he served as editor of the 45th Division News, supervising a staff of 10 enlisted men who were reporters, photographers and cartoonists. The weekly newspaper was published in Louisiana; Hokkaido, Japan's northern island; and on the front in Korea, where Kaff received the Bronze Star for meritorious service.
Between World War II and the Korean War, Kaff was a reporter for The Ponca City News in Oklahomaand The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. After Korean War military service, he was discharged from the Army in Tokyo in 1952 and joined United Press, serving as a war correspondent during the last year of the Korean conflict and the first year of the Korean truce.
He then worked for the wire service as a correspondent, news editor and bureau manager in Tokyo, Saigon, Taipei, Manila and Hong Kong. He covered conflicts in Indochina in the late 1950s that led to the Vietnam War, the Communist-Nationalist Chinese battles at Quemoy and Matsu in the Taiwan Strait, Japan's development into a world economic power, and Summer and Winter Olympic Games in Japan.
While based in Asia, Kaff interviewed President Syngman Rhee of South Korea, President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, President Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam (by cable), President Chiang Kai-shek of Nationalist China, President Diosdado Macapagal of the Philippines, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato of Japan and President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan.
From 1975 to 1978, Kaff was UPI's personnel director based in New York City. From 1978 to 1984, he served as vice president and general manager of the company's Asia-Pacific Division, directing the company's news, photo and broadcasting operations in an area that extended from Japan to Australia to Pakistan; and supervising a multi-national staff of 300 persons.
During 1983, his last full year as Asia-Pacific manager, the division's gross income was $5.9 million against expenses of $4.4 million while other UPI divisions were losing money. From 1984 to 1985, Kaff was vice president of UPI's New York City division. He retired from UPI in 1985 at age 65.
From 1986 to 1993, he worked in the Cornell News Service, the public relations department of Cornell University, first as managing editor and then as business and international editor.
Kaff contributed chapters to several books: "How I Got That Story" [New York: Dutton 1967], "Eyewitness on Asia" [Hong Kong: Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong, 1997] and "Foreign Correspondents in Japan" [Tokyo: Tuttle, 1998]. He edited Bill Shinn's book "The Forgotten War Remembered: Korea 1950-1953" [Elizabeth, New Jersey: Hollym International, 1996].
Kaff and Cornell Finance Professor Avner Arbel wrote "Crash: Ten Days in October . . . Will It Strike Again?" [Chicago: Longman 1989], an account of the 1987 stock market crash. A Japanese translation of "Crash" was published by Kodansha in Tokyo in 1990. In its March 15, 1990, issue, the Library Journal, published in New York City, selected "Crash" as one of “the 65 business books of 1989 that just might make the difference in your business collection.”
Kaff is a past president of the Foreign Correspondents Clubs in Taipei, Tokyo, and Hong Kong; and past vice president of the Manila Overseas Press Club, the Overseas Press Club of America in New York City, and the Ithaca (New York) Press Club. He now is a trustee of the Overseas Press Club Foundation that awards scholarships annually to college and university students who want to become foreign correspondents.
In Tokyo, he served on the vestry and was warden of St. Alban's Anglican-Episcopal Church.
Kaff is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in the World, International Authors and Writers Who's Who and Who's Who in Hong Kong.
He and his wife Diana are parents of two sons: Arthur, of Bel Air, MD, and Alban, of Brooklyn, NY. He has four grand-children.
Read his thoughts on being a foreign correspondent, written August 17, 2009 >>
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Al Kaff had a lifelong love affair with the news business, and he died with his "boots" on -- writing for the OPC Bulletin until his last days at age 91.
I first met Al in Hong Kong in 1978 when he was running Asia for UPI and I was working for AP. Although AP and UPI were competitors at that time, Al and I became friends. Our offices were in the same building, New Mercury House, and we were both members of the Foreign Correspondents Club.
In my minds eye, I see Al now in a jaunty red bowtie, a big smile on his face, with his beloved wife, Diana, at his side, glass in hand, recounting stories about covering the end of the Korean War, the wars in Indochina that led to the Vietnam War which I had covered, and his years watching Japan's emergence from war to become a global economic power.
After Al retired from UPI, he worked for the news service at Cornell University. Somehow, he discovered that I was a Cornell graduate. He tracked me down and wrote a story about my career as a foreign correspondent, leading to my reconnection with my alma mater.
When I returned to New York in 1998 to cover the United Nations, our paths crossed again at the OPC and it was a delight to see him and Diana over the past 13 years.
Al lived through the golden age of foreign correspondents and what a career he had -- covering wars, clashes between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese and the Olympics in Japan, getting a rare interview with Marlon Brando in a taxi and even dancing with Imelda Marcos! And how many journalists are still published in their ninth decade, let alone their seventh and eighth?
A gentleman to the end, Al was a great supporter of women like me who were trying to break into that all-male club. I am forever greatful for his friendship, for his support and for his unflagging devotion to our profession.
In the 20-odd years I worked with Al and knew Dianna they were charming companions and friends. Al was proud o his experiences and recalled events now so often forgotten. I remember in particular his description of the fall of Dien Bien Phu. As a former editor of the OPC Bulletin, I believe he carried the people column to the point at which it was essential reading for many outside the OPC as well as for members.
This has been a grim week for those of us who have lost good friends in an era of journalism we thought counted for something. Al Kaff was like a shadow to me. We first met in 1951 when he showed up in Korea as an information guru of the Oklahoma 45th National Guard Division and I was a combat correspondent in Korea for the Pacific Stars and Stripes. I was in Panmunjom, covering the armistice talks and there was Al.
Many of us descended on Koje-do, the island on the southern tip of Korea, where several hundred Chinese and Korean prisoners of war were captives and, in turn, had kidnapped the U.S Army commandant of the POW lockup. Dozens of reporters were there and so was Al. Subsequently, an internship with the Associated Press turned into a staff job for me and working for the United Press, there was Al. By then our friendship turned into a competitive relationship. We collided in occupied and then un-occupied Japan. At the Foreign Correspondents Club on Shimbun Alley, slurping martinis at Jimmy's bar, there was Al. On the road from there, be it covering the shoot-out at the Nationalist Chinese outposts on Taiwan's islands of Quemoy and Matsu, I appeared for an interview with Chiang Ka-shek. I slapped my forhead. God, there was Al, once again, So it went in Hong Kong, the Philippines, of course, the long drawn-out conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia. Sometimes, Al was not there in body but certainly in spirit when he began to rise through the UPI ranks in charge of coverage throughout Asia. What I remember most clearly was Al Kaff's friendly demeanor, no matter where we were, even when his boss, Ernie Hoberecht covering the flight into exile of the Dalai Lama of Tibet identified the wrong man. Jim Becker, our bureau chief in India, punched out the classic line that became known all over Asia. He wrote with some glee, "our Dalai Lama REAL Dalai Lama, Thanks." I repeated the story during an audience with His Holiness and he smiled; charitably at least..
When we thought we had gone our separate ways and I was the CBS News' Moscow correspondent, covering the U.S.S.R. and then the anti-war movement emerging over Vietnam, I lost touch with Al but not completely. To my astonishment, as well as my wife's, we met once again when he was the spokesman for Cornell University and our son was in the M.A. program there, about to earn his graduate degree in urban planning. Al and I managed to keep abreast of activities at the Overseas Press Club; including its growing membership under Sonia Fry's direction that was expanding in unimaginable ways. But it was the telephone and email that solidified a friendship of more than half a century, always with a smile. He will be missed in a terrible time these past two weeks when I have had to reflect on the loss of the radio giant Norman Corwin and CBS News correspondent Bob Pierpoint, two my oldest friends. They don't make them like that any more.
Al was THE chronicler of correspondents. I cannot fathom anyone ever replacing him in that regard. For me, he was the OPC and his column the must-read item in the Bulletin.
I had the honor of sitting with him at an OPC awards dinner some years ago and although I was a couple of generations his junior he was keenly interested in my views of the contemporary Far East and keeping up to date on colleagues we both knew from the FCCJ and other press clubs in Asia.
Steve Herman
Bureau Chief/Correspondent
VOA News
Seoul
When ever Al and I talked we reminiced about the Far East, particularly Tokyo. Based in Tokyo, I worked for International News Service, Al with United Press. Soon UP added an I to its name and became United Press Inertnational or UPI, the I for its take over of INS. Al will be missed by many and never fogotten as an exceptional journalist and outstanding human being.
Al Kaff already was an established contributor to the OPC Bulletin when I arrived in 1963 as its editor, so he must have been its longest-serving correspondent, ever.
Along with Al, who sent me regular updates from Tokyo for what was called "Overseas Ticker," there were many of his colleague-contributors who were vital links between overseas reporters and Manhattan-based OPC members. Among them were Bob Tuchman from London; Bernard Redmont from Paris; his son, Dennis -- later one of my AP colleagues -- from Rio and Rome; and Welles Hangen from Hong Kong. (A contribution from Hangen arrived at my desk even as we were hearing news about his disappearance in Cambodia.)
Al and all the others had a lot to do with establishing OPC's credibility and prestige.
Sibby Christensen
Editor, Overseas Press Bulletin, 1963-70
Associated Press, 1970-2004
I am in Jerusalem when I heard the news of Al's death. It was terrible news in a day that already filled with emotion beginning in the morning in Bethlehem and ending in the afternoon at the Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem. The OPC will miss Al terribly because he was the heart and soul of the club. Sometimes we discussed what would happen to the Bulletin, to website updates, if Al were unable to write. We never had a solution and we certainly don't now.
In true Al style and commitment he wrote his own obituary a few years ago. He wanted us to be prepared. He was the consummate journalist asking the probing questions and proud to turn in his copy on time. There were days when we finished editing the Bulletin in the morning and Al's copy would come in for the next month within hours.
We shall miss his gentlemanly manner, his commitment to journalistic standards, his correctly spelled copy and his meeting his deadlines. You could always count on Al - always.
We really don't know what we will do without him.
For many members of the Overseas Press Club, Al Kaff was its voice, its personification through the pages of the Bulletin, which he loved writing and editing and we all loved reading.
Al’s affection for the news business – especially reporting from abroad – always came through in his missives connecting us with one another. He noted the big events in the world of journalism and the small individual achievements that actually mattered more to each of us, never more so when the pat on the back from Al was for you. Not a book by a member came out without a serious mention by way of a thoughtful review from Al.
His dedication to the OPC was boundless and he put in untold hours expressing his love for the profession and for us. I would like to think he knew instinctively how much we all appreciated him, but he was so shy of the spotlight that we had to trick him to come into the OPC to get a public tribute. Al, we salute you.
Al Kaff was so remarkable that I can't imagine the OPC, or the "People" column, without him. Al must have had the greatest Rolodex in the world, and the widest net of sources; because his column in the monthly OPC Bulletin was truly awesome, and it made for such fascinating reading. I always marveled at the worldwide scope of his monthly tidbits. To say I will miss his red bow tie and his columns is the understatement of the century.
Al Kaff was an amazing person --such energy and dedication right to the end. He was a terrific journalist and devoted Club member and made a contribution to OPC that really cemented it as a club. We are what we are thanks in large part to Al Kaff.
Al Kaff's passing is an irreparable loss to the OPC and to journalism. He put together wonderful reports month after month. In a way, he was the glue holding our worldwide membership together. Also he was a wonderful example for those of us who are in our nineties and still want to do something useful for our profession.
The OPC has been flooded with emails and phone calls about Al Kaff. Below are comments from friends who are not OPC members but who have worked with or have known Al.
In an age of Ego First Journalism, Al stayed in the background and did his chosen job so well you expected him to go on forever--a stolid example of what should be the true nature of our business.
Bob Dowling
I worked with Al in Hong Kong after I left Vietnam. He's posted here several times about his UPI assignment in Saigon in the 1950s. Members of the Overseas Press Club also know how dedicated he was to chronicling the work of foreign correspondents. And most of all, he was a very nice guy.
Tracy Wood
Diana Kaff, Al's wife of 51 years, gave me the sad news over the telephone this morning. Diana said Al did not want a funeral. I met Al 50 years ago and he was ever a great and caring man and unipresser. I talked with Al on the telephone just a week ago and he sounded as chipper and spirited as ever, 'we planned to get together with our wives for next week. from my observations over the years, Al made many friends in life and not a single enemy....as befits a man who spoke ill of no one.
Don Becker
Al Kaff was a wonderful person and an excellent reporter, who knew the news business inside and out. I worked with him in Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York, and he was always a very, very dedicated Unipresser. He kept many of us in touch with old colleagues through his enthusiastic reporting on the news business, both in Asia and in New York where he was a bulwark at the Overseas Press Club. He was also a key member of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan where he was a former president. Rest in peace, Al
Ted Marks
Al was a professional through and through, with an encyclopedic recall of the events he'd covered and the people he'd encountered along the way. And in years working with him in Asia and then after he moved to New York in the rough-and-tumble of the wire service world, I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. He'll indeed be missed.
Bob Kraylor
Al was the first American correspondent I met at the beginning of my USIA Foreign Service careeer in l957. He was the (then) UP Saigon correspondent. He left only a few months after I showed up, and was replace by Dale Brix, who I hear died a while back. Both fine guys, serious journalists and good friends. RIP to them both.
PJ Hickman
Sad news about Al Kaff. I think he had more friends than anyone I know. And a fine journalist, too. He had a long life and a good one, active and in touch with the world right into his 90s. We heard from him just a few weeks ago. Ruth was also fond of him and shares these sentiments. We will all miss him.
Mike Malloy
It's really grand to see the tributes for Al Kaff pour in to the OPC site. Al not only coached me through my early awkward time in UPI's Tokyo bureau but he worked with Bob Miller in Honolulu so I could send my new bride and adopted daughter there to get U.S. citizenship, a loophole in immigration law that would not please the Birthers and other anti-immigrants today. He would do personal things like that way beyond the call of duty
Bill Wright
Very sorry to hear about Al's passing -- first met him in Tokyo in 1965, knewn him when I was there with ChiTrib in early '70's and again in mid-80s at Cornell, where he was a PR person, and talked to him on the phone quite often since. An incredibly kind and decent individual, a member of the vestry of his church, he kept up with everyone to the end through his outpourings in the Overseas Press Club bulletin, where he plugged achievements, books, wrote the obits, etc. Oh yes, he was also a correspondent in Saigon -- in the very early days, late 1950s, I think, after having served as an army sergeant in the Korean War and then correspondnt for UP in pre-UPI days in Korea. He'll be missed. RIP
Al Kaff was tireless, loyal, completely reliable, and truly indispensable. When I was president of the club, I prayed regularly for his continued good health; I knew I wouldn't have a clue what to do if something happened to him. The OPC won't be the same without Al.
Sorry I never met him but appreciated coverage he gave to all our efforts.
Will work a quote or two from his 2009 OPC piece into a tribute on our weekend radio & podcast program.
David M. Alpern
Producer/Host
FOR YOUR EARS ONLY
As quoted on a recent segment on "For Your Ears Only" | Listen to the clip >>
"Sometimes I thought I did not make my mark as a foreign correspondent because the CIA never once asked me for information." That was a wry retrospective by Alberft Kaff on a far-ranging journalistic career that spanned nearly seven decades, many in Asia for United Press International, and lately covering the professional and personal milestones of other journalists for the Overseas Press Club of America monthly bulletin. He died last week at 92.
I remembered last night Al's special kindness to me after we lost Pierre and Al thought he should put it in the Bulletin. With all his professionalism, he kept his humanity in his mind as well as in his heart. A man we'll miss.
I first met Al in Korea covering the war. He was a mild, most pleasant man, but a terrific reporter. I came to know him much better in Hong Kong during the 1970's, and made the mistake of running against him for president of the Foreign Correspondents Club there. The election wasn't even close. He clobbered me.
He never became president of the OPC, but he held the club's most important job, keeping the membership informed about where everyone was and what everyone was doing. His People column, I believe, it is why so many of our far-flung colleagues joined. It was the "family" letter of the organization, the first thing we all read in the Bulletin.
I don't know any better way to put it. Al was just a great friend. I will miss him, bow tie and all.
Al Kaff was one of the great gentlemen of modern journalism. His professionalism and appreciation for our craft, and his respect for all the people who practice it, was always apparent. He spent his life in the most fiercely competitive branch of journalism, yet understood that all who shared that experience were special kin of a sort, and collectively we knew something about journalism that those who hadn't worked for wire services did not know.
In New York, Al edited the OPC newsletter and often called on former colleagues to write book reviews and other pieces.
And when I was working on an AP story few years ago about a new effort to solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart, Al retrieved an interesting vignette from his own past: When the pioneering pilot known as ``Lady Lindy'' visited her home town of Atchison, Kansas in 1936, Al Kaff, age 16, was a member of the high school marching band in the big parade.
Al was often seen at the OPC until a year or so ago when he began working mostly at home. His last visit apparently was for the big reunion of old Tokyo hands in early 2010. Fair to say that's one event he, like many of us, wouldn't have missed for anything.
I'm so sorry to hear about Al. He was a good friend and mentor, not to mention an amazingly prolific writer. My condolences to his family.