Following is the obituary of the artist, written by Erin Dostal for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, February 14, 2010.

Steve Kaufman, a world-renowned pop-culture artist who had many ties to Las Vegas, died early Friday morning in Vail, Colo., after a battle with health problems. He was 49 years old.

Kaufman is known in Las Vegas for a recent installation of several works of art at Caesars Palace. Richard C. Perry, the owner of Centaur Gallery at Fashion Show Mall, said Kaufman also was commissioned for a piece at City Center.

As an artist, Kaufman was never one to shy away from a challenge, Perry said. Kaufman worked long hours to paint a 144-foot-long canvas with the names of those who died in the 9/11 attacks.The New York City native used a basement of Caesars Palace to paint the giant work, which would later tour the country.

Kaufman started the tribute painting shortly after 9/11 and completed it in early 2002, Perry said. "Probably no one in the world has ever done anything like that," he said. "It was just unbelievable."

At the time of his death Kaufman was living in Los Angeles, where he spent much of his adult life. Kaufman lived a largely "bi-coastal" existence, Perry said, also keeping a small residence and studio in New York City.

According to a statement from the Vail Police Department, Kaufman had arrived in Vail this past Thursday to take part in a show featuring his work.

Police said a friend found Kaufman dead at about 8:20 a.m. the next morning in his Vail Village Hotel room. His friend became worried when Kaufman didn't attend a breakfast meeting. He went to Kaufman's hotel room, where the artist was found unresponsive on the floor, police said.

The Eagle County (Colo.) coroner will conduct an autopsy, but police said it appears Kaufman died of natural causes.

In a biography entry dated April 2003, Kaufman wrote: "I had a stroke, my cholesterol was 576, I've been told I flat line died. That night I had 6 jelly donuts, during my sleep I saw quick flashes of my life like I was on VCR tape recorder rewinding my life story very fast, then it stop, everything when black."

The next year, Kaufman suffered two minor strokes and a bout with cancer. Five years later, in February 2009, Kaufman had a second major stroke while in Las Vegas, he wrote in the online biography.

"I was seeing spots that day, I woke up in Las Vegas and being paralyzed couldn't get into a wheel chair," he wrote.

Kaufman got his start in the Pop Art movement years ago, when as a teenager he began working as an assistant to Andy Warhol.

"His early days of art really began when he was 9 or 10," Perry said. "He practiced; he worked; he got very excited about the time in which he lived."

Kaufman was prolific, producing between 200-300 paintings each year, Perry said.

"If you looked at his portfolio you would say: 'My God, this guy painted everyone and everything,'" Perry said. Kaufman painted many Las Vegas icons, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Elvis.

Kaufman also was known for his charitable work. In Los Angeles, he was known for hiring men who were recently released from jail to help in his studios.

Perry was a personal and professional friend of Kaufman's. Perry said he admired how Kaufman maintained his down-to-earth personality in spite of his fame.

"He'd give you his heart and his soul," Perry said. "He's probably the most generous guy I've met in the art community."

Steve Kaufman was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1960. At the young age of eight, he had his first exhibit, and by the time he was 12, he had a job painting faces on pet-rocks for NYC's Macy's department store. Steve Kaufman then worked as an assistant to Andy Warhol in Warhol's factory.

In 1989 Kaufman opened his own art studio and hired many NYC homeless to work for him. He then painted the portraits of three homeless people which went on to help raise $4,720,000.00 to benefit the homeless. While operating his own studio Kaufman has continued to employ the homeless and ex-gang kids from the Los Angeles area. Today, Kaufman is still working in his LA studio but, as he has from the beginning, Kaufman is experimenting with a new art style and techniques.

As always, Kaufman as had a great response with his new works and collectors continue to celebrate his work as he embarks on this new style. We can see evidence of his new style in his Hollywood Marilyn, where he has collaged other images into the work that "support" his main image. For instance, in the lower right foreground Kaufman has situated Marilyn's star from Hollywood's Walk of Fame, then he has depicted Marilyn herself all dolled-up as the central theme. Kaufman places her directly in the middle of the composition, heavily outlined, and in the background we see other elements and images symbolic of Hollywood.

This new style is also evident in his First Ladies series of Princess Diane and Jacqueline Kennedy. Kaufman believes this new style will give his portraits more impact. Kaufman also believes in creating works that are unique not only in subject matter, or style but even within his limited editions. For this reason many of Kaufman's edition are hand embellished. In other words, Kaufman chooses to hand paint on each of his limited editions so that no two paintings are exactly alike. Kaufman is renowned for his charity work, contributing to many worthy charities through his artwork and by personally visiting with the underprivileged and disabled. Kaufman supports over 150 charities each year and is considered a man of the people.

Kaufman's artwork hangs in the White House, the Smithsonian, as well as hundreds of other public and private collections around the world. He has made a name for himself in the art world and market and is internationally acclaimed as the new pop artist. Kaufman is the first American artist to be asked to create portraits for two European masters. Kaufman has been featured on Fox TV and MTV, and was the winner of the Underground Artist of the Year award for creating 55 racial harmony murals. He also created an AIDS Memorial in New York City, and a Meals on Wheels mural on the walls of the famous Spago Restaurant in Los Angeles.

The Picasso Academy of Fine Arts commissioned Kaufman to create a portrait of Picasso, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Kaufman was also commissioned to create a portrait of Van Gogh for The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. He has been so fortunate to be the only American to be honored with the Picasso Ring, which is an annual award given to an artist the Picasso Academy feels has the spirit of Picasso.