Steve Kaplan: An Appreciation

In Yiddish, a ‘mensch’ is a good person, a stand-up guy, someone with integrity, honor, and character.

Steve Kaplan, who passed away recently after a lengthy and courageous battle with brain cancer, was a mensch of the highest order.

He was a CPA with the firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, remembered by colleague and fellow partner Howard Cheney as “a tireless CPA who always set a high standard for us to follow, a great teacher, and as the person who went to the post office on April 15 each year to mail out last-minute tax returns.”

But he was also known for his bowties, and especially for getting involved with the community and encouraging others to do the same. He was a tutor, mentor to young people, great golf buddy, devoted Rotarian, and someone who never waited to be asked to volunteer his help.

He jokingly introduced himself as ‘Mr. Susan Jaye Kaplan,’ a nod to his energetic, equally involved, and perhaps better-known wife, with whom he partnered on many initiatives, especially the nonprofit Link to Libraries, which promotes childhood literacy and puts books on the shelves of school libraries.

They co-founded the agency, with Sue as its face, while Steve kept the books and mostly stayed in the background. Together, with a few others, they built a nonprofit that has drawn the support of individuals and businesses across the region.

There should be emphasis on that word ‘together.’ Indeed, individually, the Kaplans achieved much. Together … they were a force, authors of a love story that was and is a true inspiration.

Theirs was the kind of partnership the writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery had in mind when he wrote that “life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

Steve and Sue Kaplan did a lot of that, and in addition to that partnership, Steve leaves behind a legacy of caring and a sense of service to others.

The region has lost a great mensch.