Sumner Z. Kaplan
Portrait of Sumner Z. Kaplan
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
1954[1]–1962[1]
Succeeded byMichael Dukakis[1]
Probate and family court judge
In office
1983[1]–1993[1]
Nominated byEdward J. King[1]
Personal details
Born(1920-02-03)February 3, 1920[2]
Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts[3]
DiedMarch 20, 2011(2011-03-20) (aged 91)[1]
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts[1]
Political partyDemocratic
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Army[1]
United States Army Reserve[1]
Years of service1941-????
RankBrigadier General[1]

Sumner Z. Kaplan (February 3, 1920 – March 20, 2011) was an American soldier, politician, and judge. Kaplan served in the United States Army in World War II, and later continued to serve in the United States Army Reserve. Kaplan was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1954, and left after a failed run for the Massachusetts State Senate. Later serving in local elected offices in Brookline, Massachusetts, he was appointed as a judge in 1983 remaining in that position for ten years.

Early life, education, and military service

The youngest of three children, Kaplan grew up in Dorchester and Roxbury.[1] He later graduated high school at Boston Latin School, in 1939.[1] Two years later he graduated from Massachusetts State College.[1] Due to World War II, he served in the United States Army in the United States Corps of Engineers, eventually being promoted to the rank of colonel; after the war he continued to serve in the United States Army Reserve completing his military career with he rank of brigadier general.[1]

In 1962, Kaplan had been reduced to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve, and was serving the role of chief of staff with the 94th Infantry Division.[4] By 1971, he was promoted to a general officer as he was assigned to become the deputy commanding general of 94th Army Reserve Command.[lower-alpha 1][6] In 1974, he authorized the usage of two armored personnel carriers of the 187th Infantry Brigade by John Wayne during his 1974 visit to Harvard Square.[7]

During the War in 1944, he married Eleanor Fisher, who he initially met when he was 16 and she was 15.[1] After World War II he graduated from Harvard Law School, and practiced law.[1] Eleanor would go on to be an elementary school teacher.[8] In 1982, a daughter of theirs, who worked for Chase Manhattan Bank, was married to a Columbia University history professor.[8]

Elected office, legislation, and judicial service

In 1954, he ran for the Massachusetts House of Representatives for Brookline, and won.[1] While in office he advocated for legislation for rent control, opposed anti-communism legislation, and opposed the death penalty.[1] Eight years later, he unsuccessfully ran for the Massachusetts State Senate, and his House of Representatives seat was filled by the election of Michael Dukakis.[1] In 1962, Kaplan ran the unsuccessful senatorial campaign for Edward J. McCormack Jr..[9] He remained active in public office locally in Brookline, where he served in its town meeting and its select board.[1]

In 1974, his writings on the Israeli Reserves were utilized in a journal article on cadre in reserve units.[10] Kaplan was also a rabbi, officiating the wedding of the White House speech writer Richard N. Goodwin in 1975.[11] Kaplan was involved in organizing for pro-Israel demonstrations in Boston;[11] he would travel to Israel yearly after a partner of his law firm moved there.[1] In 1983, he was appointed a probate and family court judge by Governor Edward J. King.[1]

Later life and death

Later, Kaplan served as general counsel to Merkert Enterprises of Canton, Massachusetts.[8] In 2004, a successful effort was made to have a park named for him in Brookline, it is located in a playground.[12] He moved to Jamaica Plain in 2010.[1] He died of heart failure, and lymphoma, on 22 March 2011, in Boston, Massachusetts at age 91.[1] Kaplan was interned at Sharon Memorial Park, Massachusetts, and was survived by two daughters, five grandchildren, and his wife of 66 years.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Marquard, Bryan (3 April 2011). "Sumner Kaplan, 91, state legislator, judge, selectman". Boston Globe. Retrieved 26 December 2023 – via archive.boston.com.
  2. ↑ Hayden, Irving N.; Grove, Lawrence R. (1961). "Sumner Zalman Kaplan". Public Officers of Massachusetts 1961-62. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via Wikimedia Commons.
  3. ↑ Vallance, Karla (23 March 2011). "Brookline's Sumner Kaplan was Former State Representative". Patch.com. Brookline, Massachusetts. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "A Division is Many Men". The Boston Globe. 29 June 1962. Retrieved 4 January 2024 – via newspaper.com. Gen Galvin surveys the maneuvers from a helicopter and the staff officers, Chief of Staff Lt Col Sumner Z. Kaplan of Brook-line, Lt Col Daniel J. Finn of the Back Bay, Lt Col James Chekos of Wakefield and Brig Gen Costas L. Karagnis of Dracut survey the troops on the ground.
  5. ↑ "94th Training Division". United States Army Reserve. United States Army. Retrieved 4 January 2024. The next significant event for the 94th Division occurred in 1967 when the Division was re-designated as the 94th Army Reserve Command (ARC), headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts.
  6. ↑ Army Reserve Magazine. Chief, Army Reserve. 1971. p. 6-PA14. Retrieved 4 January 2024. Colonel Sumner Z. Kaplan has been assigned as Deputy CG, 94th ARCOM, Boston, Mass. He formerly held the mobilization designation position as Special Assistant to Dep Asst Secretary of Defense, Reserve Affairs.
  7. ↑ Weiss, Philip (22 January 1974). "Top Pentagon Officials Launch Investigation Of Army's Loan of Two Tanks to John Wayne". The Harvard Crimson. Harvard University. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 "Marjorie Kaplan Bride of Professor". The New York Times. New York, New York. 8 November 1982. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  9. ↑ Kusmer, Anna (9 May 2023). "A Personal Reflection: The Year The Kennedys Trounced My Grandfather". GBH. Brighton, Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  10. ↑ Gans, Colonel Daniel (July 1974). "Improving Readiness: Active Army Support of Reserve Components". Military Review: Professional Journal of the United States Army. PB (United States. Army). Vol. LIV. Command and General Staff School. p. 89. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  11. 1 2 Ivry, Benjamin (22 May 2018). "Richard Goodwin, Speechwriter For LBJ, JFK and RFK, Dies At 86". The Jewish Daily Forward. The Forward Association, Inc. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  12. ↑ Reports of Selectmen and Advisory Committee (Report). Town of Brookline. 16 November 2004. p. 24-1. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
    Brookline Conservation Commission (May 2011). Open Spaces 2010 (Report). Town of Brookline. p. 94. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  13. ↑ "Sumner Kaplan Obituary". Legacy.com. Boston Globe. 24 March 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2023.

Notes

  1. ↑ 94th Army Reserve Command was a re-designation of 94th Infantry Division.[5]
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