Kennewick’s former engineer, killed in attack, shaped the future of the city

Kennewick city employees are mourning the death of Dan Kaufman, who helped shape the city with work on more than 1,100 infrastructure projects before retiring.

Kaufman, 75, the city’s retired engineer, and his wife, Vickie, 68, a longtime Tri-Cities educator, were found dead in their Kennewick home on Gum Street on Aug. 25.

One of their sons, Ryan Kaufman, is a suspect in their deaths along with the death of his Finley neighbor, Emil “Bob” Zlatich Jr., 77, during a shooting and arson spree that ended with Ryan Kaufman’s death in a burning pickup in West Richland.

Zlatich was the owner of Zip’s By The Cable Bridge in Kennewick for more than 40 years.

“As our former city engineer, Dan was instrumental in many projects and developments in our community that helped shape the future of our city,” the city of Kennewick posted on social media.

He joined the city staff in 1985, after working as a surveyor in Umatilla, Ore., and served as the Kennewick city engineer for 26 years, according to an obituary written by his family.

In Kennewick, he was the lead for numerous street construction projects, including the extension of Clearwater Avenue, the large Creekstone development south of West 10th Avenue and the second phase of the Southridge Sports Complex.

He also worked on numerous street reconstruction project, and his impact on the infrastructure of Kennewick “can literally be found on almost any street or corner,” his obituary says.

His family teased him about bringing roundabouts to Kennewick, with more than 20 completed during his years with the city.

He embraced roundabouts as a way to make intersections safer for the community, said Kennewick City Manager Marie Mosley.

“He got along with everyone, and he valued relationships,” Mosley said.

He was instrumental in creating strong relationships between developers and the city, looking for flexible and creative solutions, she said.

He used his understanding of the community and what developers were trying to accomplish to get to an answer of “yes” on projects, she said.

He was well respected for the experience and expertise he brought to projects, she said.

“He will be missed and his legacy will live on with his accomplishments over 26 years for the city,” Mosley said.

His family wrote that his death will leave “a big hole in the hearts of the many lives he touched and his legacy will be here in the City, the lives he impacted and the projects he did with Vickie ...”

Vickie Kaufman worked for 17 years with the Pasco School District before retiring a few years ago.

Her specialty was Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) for students learning English as a second language.

She’d also worked many years for the Kennewick School District and in Columbia-Burbank and Umatilla, Ore., schools.

The couple raised three children in the Tri-Cities.