Michael Kaplan
By Joshua Burd
Michael Kaplan, a Holocaust survivor who became a prolific New Jersey homebuilder and the second-generation leader of the Kaplan Cos., died Wednesday at age 83.
The Highland Park-based firm announced his death Thursday, noting that Kaplan expanded the company founded by his father with massive single- and multifamily development projects from Middlesex County to the Jersey Shore. Notably, he also filed a high-profile lawsuit against a municipality that blocked his plan to build affordable housing, sparking litigation that lasted for more than a decade and preceded the landmark Mount Laurel case in 1975.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that I inform you of the passing of our father, Michael Kaplan,” Jason Kaplan, president of Kaplan Cos., wrote in a LinkedIn post late Wednesday. “He passed surrounded by his family and loved ones. He was a great man that touched and influenced the lives of everybody that knew him. The world was a better place because of him. His strength and perseverance will inspire us forever.”
Michael Kaplan was born inside a concentration camp in April 1940 and later relocated to various Nazi death camps, including the notorious Bergen-Belsen camp, according to an obituary provided by the firm. He ultimately emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1950s with his parents, Nathan and Fela Kaplan, and his younger brother Morris, arriving in Brooklyn before settling among other Jewish refugees as chicken farmers in Toms River.
The family’s real estate business began when Nathan Kaplan saw the economic potential of returning Korean War soldiers seeking affordable homeownership on the G.I. Bill, the obituary said. Michael Kaplan, who was attending Rutgers University at the time, joined the company after earning a graduate degree in engineering in 1961.
The Kaplans steadily expanded their portfolio, often building entire neighborhoods while also developing retail and other property types. Michael Kaplan’s lawsuit against what is now the township of Old Bridge came in 1966, leading to 13 years of litigation that included three appearances before the state Supreme Court and, ultimately, a victory for the developer.
The firm noted that the case, known as Oakwood v. Madison, was a precedent for the Mount Laurel decisions that have guided affordable housing policy in New Jersey in recent decades.
“The Mount Laurel approach is not the solution to affordable housing,” Kaplan later said, according to the obituary. “The solution is a cooperative effort between developers and governments, with both sides donating land, giving concessions and becoming creative.”
In 1970, Kaplan acquired 450 acres of farmland between routes 1 and 27 in North Brunswick to create Hidden Lake, an ambitious combination of single-family homes, apartments, townhouses and retail, the firm said. It was one of the first planned unit developments in the state and went on to be duplicated across the country, as the developer embarked on a nationwide search for architects and landscape designers who were providing fresh, new looks to home construction.
Kaplan also sought to insulate the company from economic downturns by expanding into commercial development, viewing it as countercyclical to homebuilding. Together, until Nathan Kaplan’s death in March 1975 at age 61, the father and son duo created a company that supported the massive population growth in central New Jersey.
Michael and Morris Kaplan would go on to spearhead other high-profile projects, such as the first golfing lifestyle community, built in Ocean County, and the 100-acre project in Sayreville known as La Mer. The latter recently entered its final stages after 35 years of construction, now boasting more than 1,500 homes.
Seventy years and four generations later, Kaplan Cos. has constructed about 30,000 homes and several million square feet of commercial space, comprising warehouses, self-storage, retail and office buildings, the firm said. Jason Kaplan was named president in 2005.
In Thursday’s obituary, the firm also pointed to Michael Kaplan’s longstanding support of Jewish charities, including The Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, Hadassah Hospital, Everyman’s University and Solomon Schechter Day School, as well as the Highland Park Conservative Temple. When the synagogue suffered a horrible fire in August 2006, the company said, he and his wife, Helen, rebuilt the sanctuary now dedicated in memory of their parents.
Personally, Kaplan loved vacationing and spending time with family, as well as movies, photography and reminiscing about his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, the obituary said. He is survived by his wife Helen and brother Morris, as well as children Lisa, Amy and Jason and their respective partners, nine grandchildren and a great granddaughter.
Funeral services are set for 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 3 at the Highland Park Conservative Temple, at 201 South 3rd Ave. in Highland Park. Donations can be made in Kaplan’s name to the synagogue.
