Kofler was born in Brzeżany, Austrian-Hungarian empire (now western Ukraine) and graduated as a disciple of among others Hugo Steinhaus and Stefan Banach from the University of Lwów Poland (now Ukraine) and the University of Cracow, having studied game theory. After graduation in 1939 Kofler returned to his family in Kolomyia (today Kolomea in Ukraine), where he taught mathematics in a Polish high school. After German attack on the town 1 July 1941 he succeeded to escape to Kazakhstan together with his wife. At Alma-Ata he managed a Polish school with orphanage in exile and worked there as mathematics teacher. After World War II ended he returned home with the orphanage. He was accompanied by his wife and their baby son. The family settled in Poland. From 1959 he accepted the position of lecturer at the University of Warsaw in the faculty of economics. In 1962 he gained a Ph.D. with his thesis "Economic Decisions, Applying Game Theory". Then in 1962 he became assistant professor at the faculty of social science in the same university, specializing in econometrics.