Leo Kuper (1908 - 1994) was a writer and philosopher. He was born to a Lithuanian Jewish family in South Africa. He trained as a lawyer before becoming a sociologist specialising in the study of genocide.
He married the anthropologist Hilda Kuper, with whom he had two daughters: the international human rights lawyer Dr Jenny Kuper and the painter and sculptor Mary Kuper.
Kuper was an active member of the Liberal Party of South Africa during the 1950s and some of his involvements are detailed in Alan Paton's book Journey Continued.
During the 1960s, Kuper moved to Los Angeles, California, United States, where he took up teaching and researching at UCLA. His publications include The Pity of it All, Passive Resistance in South Africa, and The Prevention of Genocide.
Kuper was a founding member of the Council of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide[1] and the Liberal Party of Natal.[2]