Gaye Kaufman

Gaye M. Kaufman, 71, born on June 2, 1954, in Kansas City, Missouri, passed away peacefully on August 19, 2025.

Gaye was preceded by her mother, Betty (McClean) and father, Edward. She is survived by her devoted husband, Tom; stepdaughters, Courtney (Jim) and Lindsey (Mike); her cherished grandsons, Ryder, Kaiden, and Shane; her brother Brian (Patty); nephews Ryan and Blake, brother in laws Robert (Michelle) and Michael (Maureen) and nieces, nephews and many life long friends.

She lived an extraordinary life, growing up in Overland Park, Kansas, Norwalk, Connecticut and Saudi Arabia. She attended Collége du Léman in Geneva, Switzerland, studied Advertising at New House at Syracuse University, where she played on the basketball team and received a Masters from Rockhurst University.

Gaye traveled the world which gave her a broadened perspective of life and culture. She was always honest, had a dry sense of humor and a deep understanding of respect. She was reliable, trustworthy and logical. Gaye gave the gift of true friendship to those she held close.

She was an extremely hard worker and thrived in the marketing world. Her success led her to run her own business, Kaufman Research, for many years. While living in Kansas, Gaye enjoyed spending time with her family and friends. She loved taking trips with the girls, rooting for the Chiefs, and the magic a Kansas City thunderstorm would bring.

While attending Syracuse University in the 1970s, Gaye met her first love, Tom Colello. Though they dated for years, life pulled them to opposite sides of the country and timing wasn’t right. 35 years later, fate brought them back together, and they were blessed to fall in love a second time. On June 2, 2012, Gaye and Tom were married at Hendricks Chapel on the Syracuse University campus where their story first began. This new chapter brought Gaye back to Syracuse, where she was embraced by Tom’s Italian family, who cherished her deeply.

Gaye loved her house on the golf course, where she would often play. Living in Syracuse gave her the chance to reconnect with Syracuse women’s basketball. She enjoyed traveling with her family. A life long learner, she had a love for reading and watching documentaries. Tom and Gaye loved to go to shows and concerts together. She was always up for any idea or excursion her husband had.

While she was known as Gaye to most, she was “Goldie” to her grandsons who loved her so much. She had her own special connection with each one and had a way of embracing their individual talents and personalities, always making them feel so special. She found every opportunity to make them smile and bring them joy, truly loving the role as their “Goldie.”

Gaye privately fought a battle of Stage 4 cancer. Through it all, she showed remarkable determination, strength and resilience, never losing her spark or her wit. She was able to fulfill her final wish to come home, where she passed away peacefully surrounded by family, listening to I Can Hear Music by the band she and Tom loved, The Beach Boys.

The family would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to the doctors and nurses at Saint Joseph’s Hospital for their care and support. A special thank you to Virginia Chudyk for her loving care for Gaye while being her “VIP” nurse and friend with such compassion and big heart. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to cancer research.

Services will be privately held in Overland Park, KS, with a celebration of life to follow in Syracuse at a later date.