Stuart Morris Kaplan

Stuart Morris Kaplan was born on December 13, 1942 at Adelphi Hospital in Brooklyn to proud parents Rose and Meyer. He was an only child and spent the first 20 years of his life at 480 Lefferts Avenue in what was then called the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. From there he could walk to Ebbets Field – the true home of the Dodgers – and attended many of the games there until that so and so O’Malley moved the team to L.A. and almost destroyed the happiness of loyal fans like Stu. Thank goodness, for the Mets.

Stu was always interested and excelled in math and science and so after graduating from college at age 20, it was a natural step for him to go to graduate school. He first went to the University of Buffalo for his masters degree in Biology. This was followed by his earning of a Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. His educational path took place during the Vietnam War era and although going to graduate school would have kept him out of the draft, that was not why he went to graduate school. Rather, he went to graduate school because he was always a natural and curious learner who loved the academic world and the pursuit of knowledge.

For Stu, Jewish life with its rituals, practices, community, and moral teachings were at the center of his life. Over the years that we lived in Teaneck, he honed his organizational and leadership skills in Jewish traditional and left-leaning Jewish organizations. He began by revitalizing the Cub Scouts (as a scout leader and the infamous Akela) and the Men’s Club at Congregation Beth Sholom. He became active on the Board of the congregation and became the shul’s President. He served as a member and officer and finally President of the Northern New Jersey Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs. In the FJMC he was active in the Kerev movement which focused on bringing intermarried Jewish offspring into Jewish organizational and family life. He was a group leader of J Street with its noble and early commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Outside of the Jewish community, he was the male representative for District 12 of the Democratic Party organization, a Gore delegate to a presidential race, and after retirement, the founder of a men’s book group as well as a volunteer teacher at the Institute for Learning in Retirement housed at Bergen Community College.

Stu never did anything half-way. He was intense about his commitments and interests and more than anything, enjoyed sharing his passions with family. His children grew up loving nature, camping, reading, Jewish community, Jewish holidays, shabbat dinners, synagogue membership, the Mets, the Berkshires, Brooklyn, baking, biking, gardening, and just being there for family and friends. He was the most willing driver for all of us and baby sitter for his young grandchildren. He was the weekday meal provider for our children; the dad who went to all sports events when his children played, and the “It” who could and loved to answer all factual questions before we had cell phones and Siri to do the job for us.

But, in October 2018, life struck a hard blow to Stu and all of us. He was diagnosed with MCI, minimal cognitive impairment. And while this did not upend our lives much initially, it proceeded to worsen and turned into full-blown dementia. Subsequently, he was further diagnosed with Parkinson’s-like syndrome. And, of course, there was also COVID. Well, we coped and Stu initially took this development on with his usual full-hearted commitment. He did all the brain stimulating things he should do (puzzles, word games, exercise), went for PT, OT, and speech therapy. He continued to drive, read, garden, travel with Road Scholar, go to the city, and socialize. Even after COVID hit, he kept up a lot of the activities through Zoom and outdoor meetings. But dementia is a train that you cannot stop or derail and so eventually Stu had to

reduce his regular activities, give up driving, and much of his independence. For a couple of years he attended the Regency Memory Club, a social day care program for adults with memory issues. The last phase of his illness required that he live at the Brightview Senior Living facility in the memory care unit. I am grateful that his last years were peaceful and Stu did not suffer. He remained very mellow, cheerful, and agreeable to the end.

We will always miss Stu, but also will always be grateful to him for bringing a quality of life and loving into our lives that will endure beyond his end through our children and grandchildren. Our memories of him will be a blessing.

Please make donations in Stuart’s memory to:

COPSA - Institute for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders

Care2Caregivers

https://care2caregivers.com

or

Alzheimer’ s New Jersey

alznj.org