Susan Adler Kaplan
DATELINE: PROVIDENCE
Susan Adler Kaplan, 84, passed peacefully on October 30, 2021. Known for her tenacity, strength and compassion, Susan was respected in the community and acknowledged nationally for her contributions to education as a teacher, administrator and mentor.
She attended Connecticut College before receiving two degrees from Brown University: A.B. (’58) and M.A.T (’65). After teaching English at Classical High School for 28 years, Susan served as administrator of English and Libraries for the Providence Public School System. Continuing her passion for education, Susan held numerous roles with the Rhode Island Writing Assessment, Rhode Island Writing Project, and the Blackstone Academy. The first faculty member to be honored by the Classical Alumni Association, Susan was also named Providence Teacher of the Year, and Teacher of the Year by Good Morning America. Her love for teaching extended to roles as an adjunct professor at Providence College and Roger Williams University, and consulting in New York, California and Egypt with the Ministry of Education.
In addition to her family, friends and students, Susan’s greatest joy was her affiliation with her alma mater. Born to Brown graduates, Lt. Colonel Walter Adler (’18), a founding partner of Adler Pollock & Sheehan, and Celia Ernstof Adler (’25), Susan served as a Trustee, a Trustee Emerita and Chair of the Corporation Emeriti Executive Committee. She chaired 100 Years of Women at Brown, served as the Associate Chair of the Advisory Council on Brown Relations with Tougaloo College, and chaired the Ogden Lectures on International Affairs. Brown honored Susan with an Outstanding Teacher Educator Award, a Brown Bear and an Ittleson Award.
Her community activities were numerous. With a love for theater and the arts, Susan was a proud supporter of the Trinity Square Repertory Company, in honor of her late husband, Robert M. Kaplan, a founding member. She also served on the boards of Temple Beth-El and Miriam Hospital.
Survived by her loving granddaughter, Samantha Ashlee Bowen, her sister Nancy Adler Morrill, many beloved nieces and nephews, and other family members. Susan was the devoted mother of the late Patricia Kaplan Bowen and sister of the late Joan Adler Mark.
Graveside services will be private, and a celebration of Susan’s life will be held Spring 2022. Expressions of condolence may be sent to Samantha A. Bowen, c/o Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Avenue, Providence, RI 02906. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Susan Adler Kaplan Memorial Fund for Public Education at Brown University, Box 1877, Providence, RI 02912.
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Susan was a great teacher and friend. She will be missed by many. My condolences to Sammy and her family.
Susan was a mentor to me in so many ways. Her passion for Brown was an inspiration for us privileged to know her. And she was a mentor to me about what it means to get good at getting older- able to acknowledge the losses in her life and at the same time continue to move forward, willing to take risks, to stretch out of her comfort zone , and to share her wisdom and her open heart with younger colleagues, especially women. Her memory will always be a blessing.
Rabbi Geller :
Sam (Jason) here Classical ’66 Brown ’70 (att). Laura you have spoken exquisitely and in depth and breadth admirably about our dear Mrs. Kaplan. Being with her at our class’s 50th was the treat of the evening and, much more, synthesized and epitomized the value of Classical in a lifetime to many of us according to the responses to my description of Classical as having fashioned a thoughtful youth from an orphaned Providence street urchin. I described Mrs Kaplan as paradigm atic of the one time in my life I was in the company of 150 people of real quality — every day — in one place –
– that one time.
With Love, admiration, and my Best to you, Laura, and to all who mourn together but celebrate SK’s greatness as well.
Sam Kapnick
jasonkapnickmd@gmail.com
I am deeply saddened by the passing of my teacher and friend. Mrs. Kaplan’s high school English classes were a learning garden of poetry, literature, and theatre. I can still remember studying The Glass Menagerie, MacBeth, and Hedda Gabler, and the joy she garnered in taking her students to Trinity Rep. A demanding teacher, yet she took an interest in her students outside lives, who affectionately called her Susie behind her back. I again encountered her passion for teaching during my college years, where her energy contributed positively to student and alumni life at Brown. Her loss will be deeply felt by all who knew and admired her.
Susan was a fierce advocate for school libraries and we appreciated it immensely. My deepest condolences to Samantha.
My heart and my soul hurt. Sue Kaplan, my Teacher, taught me to think to learn, and to grow to manhood at Classical; and then , many years latter, as my friend, and always as my teacher, and while striking the Providience School Department, Sue challenged me to see three sides of an issue. A giant in humanity, this world needs hundreds of Sue.
Eternal rest grant upon this most special women and May perpetual light shine upon her.
Susan and I were cousins and became close when we grew up. I adored her energy, sense of humor and intelligence. I am so thankful we connected as adults and I will miss her greatly.
Susan Adler Kaplan was an exceptional family friend, a
compassionate mentor who arranged for our family to
Dance a new Torah for Hillel across the Brown University green
to honor my mother who was a friend of hers as a young girl,
and a brilliant friend to me in recent years. She always
conducted her life with great integrity and generosity,
with devotion and pride in her city of Providence and Brown University.
DEATH IS NOTHING
Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way, which you always used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, and pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is an absolute unbroken continuity. What is Death but a negligent accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well .
Written by Henry Scott Holland (27 January 1847 – 17 March 1918) was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford
On behalf of the entire Classical High School community, we wish to offer our prayers and condolences to Susan’s family and many friends. A beloved teacher, she will be missed.
Mrs. Susan Adler Kaplan was a powerful member of the Providence School Community. She was tenacious in her advocacy for students. In addition, Mrs. Kaplan was a great supporter of the Tougaloo-Brown Student Exchange Program which helped to demonstrate the academic worth of Historically Black Colleges. We will miss her presence greatly. My prayers and thoughts go out to her family.
Susan I am in tears hearing of your passing. Thank you for being a great friend and supporter. Your love and guidance helped me to complete medical school. You will truly be missed.
Edward and I knew Susan through friends. We most enjoyed her conversation and knowledge of Brown, Providence schools and her kindness. We were very sorry about her passing as we know she thought so highly of her granddaughter. We will keep her in our prayers.
With sorrow, Caroleann and Edward Lyons
Some of my best laughs were shared with Susan…even in her last weeks, she was alive with vigor…I will miss her…
I was so sad to hear about Susan’s passing. She was my teacher, my mentor, my friend. Susan shaped my life at a critical time, and got focused on developing into the person I am today. Thank you so much, Mrs. Kaplan. My heartfelt condolences to the famlily.
I am heartbroken by Susan Kaplan’s passing.
Yes, she was my junior year English teacher at Classical, but she was so much more to me. Because of her, a parochial kid was introduced to the broader world about him. This awakening came about not only because of the literature we studied, but primarily through the wide-ranging class discussions that her training, life experience, and sharp mind encouraged. She made you want to achieve excellence. To the extent that I possess any critical thinking and any intellectual curiosity, it is attributable to Susan Kaplan
I was fortunate to have contact with Susan through my 50th class reunion and after. She was not only an educator, but a model of wisdom and refinement.
My sincere condolences to her family.
The world is a little less bright with her passing, but she will live on in the students that she touched so deeply.
Mrs. Kaplan’s English course was among the most challenging I took in a school where I found almost all my coursework “challenging.” And sometimes reading her well-founded critiques of my papers could be a humbling experience. But she could also be very generous in her praise. I have no doubt that she played an important role in helping me develop the writing and note-taking skills that served me well in college & beyond. May her memory be for a blessing.
I took AP English with Mrs. Kaplan at Classical in the early 80s. I learned so much from her – especially the correct use of “disinterested”.
May her memory be for a blessing.
As a school librarian in the Providence Public Schools I worked closely with Susan in support of libraries. Her tireless efforts to advocate for the libraries will be remembered and appreciated by many. My sympathies to Samantha and her family.
I am deeply saddened by the passing of my favorite english teacher during my junior year at classical high school. She took me on a literary journey through Macbeth, Charles Dickens, and a lesson in parallel structure. We were studying the English satirists Addison and Steele, and Susan remarked about my writing Bob Addison and Richard Steele on one of my papers. She informed me that if I was using the nickname for Robert, I should also have written Dick Steele, instead of Richard. 54 years have passed and I still remember it. Rest in Peace Susan. Alan Vogel, Class of 1969,
I was saddened and stunned to learn recently of Susan’s passing.She was a good friend and adviser to me, my wife, Joyce Krabach, and my mother of blessed memory, Ruth Harris Wolf .
Ever true to Brown and educational excellence , the tributes to her highlight how much she inspired countless students and broadened their intellectual and career horizons.
I always found my conversations with her stimulating and thought provoking. She lived life with gusto, determination and with a strong commitment to “ tikuun olam”-repairing the world.
I will miss her but know that her impressive legacy will continue to strengthen our community and provide ongoing inspiration to me and many others!
I am so sorry to learn about the passing of dear Susan Kaplan. “Mrs. Kaplan” was a bright light in the English Department at Classical. She inspired me to read and think and inquire. It was so apparent that she cared about each of us, not just in the classroom. I hope she will somehow know how she lives on in all the people whose lives she touched and blessed. May her memory be for a blessing.
I am sorry to learn of Mrs. Kaplan’s passing. I did not know her as a teacher but as a neighbor who was generous enough to provide me with daily transportation to school.