From 1959–1975, Koffler served as Purdue University's Head of Biological Sciences, a department that he brought to international prominence.
His ability to identify, recruit, and help develop promising scientists, and to successfully build and lead intellectual enterprises, became widely known.
Koffler received numerous recognitions for his contributions to the universities, professional groups, and communities that he served.
Koffler's interest in the visual arts, and in sculpture, ballet, and architecture began as a child when he attended many of Vienna's cultural offerings in music and theatre with his mother.
After his return to Purdue, Koffler became acquainted with Rudy Pozzatti, a leading printmaker in America and Distinguished Professor at Indiana University.
Koffler admired the painters of the American abstract expressionism movement that began in the 1940s, especially Mark Tobey, Jackson Pollock, Paul Jenkins, and Helen Frankenthaler, who influenced him significantly when, in 2013, he turned from appreciating to creating art.
[5] His wife of 71 years, Phyllis (Pierson) Koffler, died on March 31, 2019, in Tucson, Arizona at age 97.