Necrology

Michael Philip Kaplan '57

Jun. 27, 1936-Feb. 20, 2020

Michael Philip Kaplan ’57, a surgeon who advanced the field of kidney transplantation, was born on June 27, 1936, in Paterson, N.J. The son of Albert and Kate Lipowitz Kaplan, he attended Eastside High School before heading to Hamilton where he would major in chemistry and mathematics and graduate with Phi Beta Kappa honors. He joined the Squires Club on campus and participated in the Debate Club, Outing Club, French Club, Biology Club, and ski team.

After graduation, Kaplan headed to the University of Rochester Medical School to earn his M.D. It was here where he first developed an interest in transplantation. He then began his surgical residency at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee where he had the opportunity to work alongside a renowned kidney transplant surgeon who had been hired to start a transplant program.

In early 1963, upon learning that he would be drafted, Kaplan enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He would spend almost three years in France as a “D-Level” surgeon at a small hospital, leaving with the rank of captain. Although his time in the military necessitated a pause in his formal medical training, it allowed him to sharpen his skills as a surgeon and gave him the confidence to know he’d chosen the right career path.

Kaplan returned to Vanderbilt where his work earned him an NIH fellowship to study tissue typing and transplant immunology in England. Prior to departing, he acquired two important things — his private pilot’s license and, more important, his wife, the former Judith Neal. The couple packed their bags and headed abroad. When the young doctor was not working in the lab, the newlyweds enjoyed traveling throughout Europe and taking in theatre and music.

Kaplan stayed on for a few years in the now fully developed transplant program at Vanderbilt after he completed his surgical residency in 1972. Three years later he took all he had learned to Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey to develop a renal transplant program there. He coordinated patient recruitment, encouraged living donors, developed a cadaver donor network, and made tissue typing and organ sharing agreements, not to mention what seemed like endless writing of protocols. The fledging program was a success; however, it came to a sudden pause in 1977 — a victim of New Jersey budget cuts.

The following year the Kaplans moved once again, this time to Grosse Pointe, Mich., and the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Hutzel Hospital. In addition to codirecting the kidney transplant and general surgery service, Kaplan ran the medical student and teaching program. Although he moved to Harper Hospital in 1988, he would stay affiliated with the Wayne State University system until his retirement in 2003.

Kaplan developed a reputation as an expert in the field of transplantation and was often called upon to provide commentary to media outlets. His influence helped shepherd a bill through the Michigan state legislature prohibiting the sale of human organs.

In 2006, Kaplan purchased a home in Nevada overlooking Lake Tahoe. He continued to enjoy flying sail planes, skiing, and deep-water fishing. He died on Feb. 20, 2020, at the age of 83. Divorced from his wife, he is survived by two sons.

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