Leo Kaplan
In SIUC Botany from 1950 to 1960
Leo Kaplan was born September 29, 1918 in Springfield Massachusetts.
He obtained his undergraduate degree at the American
International College in Springfield MA and went on to
receive Masters and Doctoral degrees from Harvard University.
As a specialist in allergies, he taught at Quincy City Hospital
School in Quincy MA and at the Massachusetts General Hospital School in
Boston. During World War II (1944-1946) he served as a Navy
medical laboratory technician.
1950 proved eventful in both his professional and personal life.
He married the former Miss Dorrie Smith in Westfield MA, received
his Ph.D. from Harvard, and also joined the SIU faculty as an Assistant
Professor in that same year. Dr. Kaplan was apparently an
effective and well-liked teacher, for he was voted most popular
professor at SIU in a student poll conducted by the Daily Egyptian
(late 1950s). He was an enthusiastic supporter of honors programs
as evidenced by his participation (in 1960) in a new plan entitled "An
Honors Program for Freshman". He was faculty advisor to the Theta
Xi fraternity and was (up to the time of his death in 1960) president
of the SIU chapter of Sigma Xi, a national society for professional
scientists. He was promoted to Associate professor in 1956 (check
date). During the summer of 1960 he headed the National Science
Foundation program for high school students and was scheduled to
continue this in 1961.
As a mycologist, Dr. Kaplan's research focused upon fungi. He
worked on oak wilt, including using aerial surveillance to track the
spread of that disease. Peroniella kaplaniana
Mohlenbrock and Dillard (Trans. Amer. Microscopical Soc. 82: 329-335;
1963) was named in honor of Dr. Kaplan who encouraged the two authors
to work on this fungal genus.
On Friday Dec. 2, 1960 Dr. Kaplan introduced Dr. Carl C. Lindegren (SIU
geneticist) at a Sigma Xi meeting being held in the Agriculture
building on campus. After completing the introduction, he walked
into the hallway beside the auditorium and was found unconscious
shortly afterward. He was rushed by ambulance to Doctors Hospital
in Carbondale but was pronounced dead at approximately 8:30 PM,
apparently the victim of a heart attack. His local funeral
arrangements were made by Huffman Funeral Home in Carbondale, and
funeral services were held at the Ascher Funeral Home in Springfield
MA. He is burried in the Sons of Jacob Cemetery of West
Springfield, MA.
Dr. Kaplan's memory is honored by the yearly Leo Kaplan
Memorial Lecture that is sponsored by the SIUC chapter of Sigma Xi.
In addition, the College of Science Biological Sciences
Program offers
the Leo Kaplan Memorial Scholarship. His wife Dorrie Kaplan
continued to reside in Carbondale after his death. Other
relatives that survived him in 1960 included his mother Mrs. Fannie
Kaplan of Springfield MA, a brother Hal Kaplan of Kenmore NY, sisters
Mrs. Bessie Winer and Mrs. Ida Nadelman, both in Massachusetts.
Publications:
Kaplan, L.1956. A rotary shaking machine for laboratory use. Mycologia 48 (4): 609-611.
Mayoral, B. M., L. Kaplan and A. J. Pappelis. 1964. Carbohydrate utilization by Cephaliophora tropica. Mycologia, 56 (4): 626-630. [Posthumous]
Photo October 31, 1951
Leo Kaplan (left) and John Voigt (right), Arbor day ceremony, SIUC Campus, 1956.
Photo April 1957
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