Remembering Dr. Ted Koff: A Legacy of Public Service
Dr. Theodore H. (Ted) Koff [seen left] came to Tucson with a mission: to develop the Handmaker Jewish Geriatric Center and improve how this community cared for its most vulnerable members. What followed was a career that would shape not only long-term care policy in Arizona but also a generation of public and health administrators who learned in his classroom what it truly means to serve.
For nearly three decades, Ted was a professor in the School of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Arizona, now the School of Government and Public Policy. At a time when teaching meant delivering answers, Ted asked questions. He pushed students to wrestle with complexity, to sit with uncertainty, and to believe they were capable of doing so. His patience and genuine confidence in his students made them feel that they could succeed in the work of public service.
His contributions extended far beyond the classroom. His pioneering efforts in long-term care, hospice, adult day services, and mental health for the elderly helped shape local, state, and national policy. He was an advocate for the vulnerable in every arena he entered.
He reminded his MPA students that not all societies choose to be responsible and nurturing to their members, but that we could choose to be. He also reminded them that individual lives are affected by public policy, and that while it is important for future policymakers to understand the impact of a policy on a defined group or population, it is critical to remember that policy ultimately touches individual people's lives. That is, in many ways, the entire purpose of public administration and nonprofit leadership. It is the work we inherit from him.
The Theodore H. Koff Outstanding Teaching Award, named by his students and presented annually at School of Government and Public Policy, ensures that his standard of teaching lives on. In the School of Government and Public Policy, we are fortunate to count many Koff awardees among our current faculty, including Liz Baldwin, Mike Letcher, Jun Peng, Trese Ricke-Kiely, and Craig Smith. More than 26 years after his passing, Ted's legacy continues in every student who leaves this program committed to serving with competence, care, and compassion.
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Dr. Nancy Koff reflecting on her husband's life work and the legacy that endures today.