Kafi Benz (b. 1941) is an American writer and artist who began participation in social entrepreneurship through environmental preservation and regional planning in 1959 as a member of the Jersey Jetport Site Association, which opposed plans by the New York Port Authority to found a new airport in the Great Swamp, the central feature of a massive fifty-five square mile watershed in New Jersey bounded to the south and east by the Watchung Mountains, twenty-five miles west of Manhattan.
During the 1980s she also became very active in historic preservation, founding a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, Friends of Seagate Inc., for that purpose. The organization later was expanded to include concerns for additional areas in the arts and sciences. At the same time she founded the official website of the sculptor Jim Gary. In 2001 it was moved to another website she created that may feature other artists as well, Kafi Benz Productions.
Born during 1941 in Chatham, New Jersey, her mother was a commercial artist, graphic designer, and illustrator and her father was a prominent physician and surgeon who was chief of staff at a hospital in Morristown.
Read more about Kafi Benz: Initial Environmental Conservation, Fine Arts Activities, Return To Preservation, Planning, Publications and Other Activities