Professor remembered for activism and spark

Students, faculty, friends and family packed the Simpson Center of the Communications Building on Wednesday night to honor the memory of Deborah Kaplan, a journalist and UW assistant professor of communications who died of a heart attack last Sunday.

Chairs were scarce as people of all ages gathered to share stories and anecdotes, fond memories and admiration for a women described by her brother, Gordon Kaplan, as a "forceful advocate and a courageous, passionate and articulate person."

Kaplan taught communications at the graduate and undergraduate levels at the UW for three years. Throughout her long career as an activist-turned-journalist-turned-academic, Kaplan made many friends who spoke warmly about her life.

Former students shared stories of her passionate engagement in class and recalled how her office door was always open, regardless if they had made an appointment.

Colleagues attested to her voracious wit and intellectual curiosity. The most common theme was that Kaplan was, in the words of her former resident advisor, "a fireball" endowed with "a boundless enthusiasm," and her death had simply come much too soon.

Kaplan's own professor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jane Brown, said in a letter read at the program, "I will miss Deb's voice and I'm sorry more people won't have a chance to hear it."

Brown also said that, whether as a writer or an academic, Kaplan "was always a social activist in on guise or another."

One of the most significant examples of Kaplan's activism was her journalistic focus on the homeless. As a reporter, she camped out in tents on the streets in order to document homelessness in America.

The somber mood of the afternoon was often broken by laughter of recognition, as speakers related stories about the colorful character Kaplan was. She was described in a letter read by her brother as "occasionally moody, often outspoken and always smoking."

Speakers joked about her incessant chain-smoking and her habit of driving alarmingly broken-down cars. At the core of the humor, though, was an admiration for a person that maintained a steadfast individualism and an unwavering personal integrity.

"She was lovely, she was smart and she was inspiring," said Kaplan's friend and colleague Crispin Thurlow. "Part of this was that she would never let us tell her she was inspiring. It's not just that we will miss Deb; we actually need Deb."

The family plans to establish a memorial fund in her name at the UW, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"Whatever Deb did, she gave it everything she had," Gordon Kaplan said in closing. "She brought her brains and heart and indomitable spirit to everything she did. If she could say one thing, she would say: 'In your lives go on more fiercely; give it everything you've got, because nothing else is good enough.'"

Reporter Siv Prince: news@thedaily.washington.edu