Thinking of Larry today on the fourth anniversary of his passing. What an amazing man and what an amazing life. I have thought of him often this spring as we honor the 75th anniversary of NATO. His scholarship on the Alliance was tremendous and inspired me to focus my dissertation and pieces of my professional life on NATO.

I’m thinking of Dr K, today Oct 28, which would have been his 98th birthday.

I’m certain I can nearly hear the eye-roll to contemporary suggestions “NATO is no longer relevant”. His scholarly judgements continue to age well.

Rest, my mentor and friend.

Larry Kaiser
Honors, ‘91

I'm thinking of Dr. Kaplan today, on his birthday! I hope others are reflecting on his legacy of kindness, warmth, and intelligence. Being his student and friend was one of the most significant points in my life and I could only hope to live up to his spirit.

I'll raise a toast to Dr. Kaplan tonight in his honor. I still hear his voice in my head and am so grateful for his presence in my life!

I just came across this today and am sorry to learn of Larry's passing. He was a good friend and colleague of my father's when he was at Kent (and my father was at CSU) and very encouraging to me when I was becoming interested in the international context of US history. My father always said he wrote the best letters of recommendation of anyone, and I know from personal experience how supportive he was of younger scholars -- and also how active and engaged he was in DC area seminars well into his '80's.

Thanks for the reminder. I still miss the ability to ask Larry for advice and guidance.
Noel Pugach

Would anyone be willing to write an article about Larry for Wikipedia? He was one of the most distinguished diplomatic historians of his generation and I believe such a reference would help to keep his memory alive as well as be useful to scholars. I had broached the subject with him several years ago, but with his typical modesty, he showed little interest. I'm really not the person to write it, but Larry's daughter-in-law, Cristina Steele-Kaplan (cristina@steelekaplanlaw.com) and I (cmunnell@yahoo.com) would both be eager to help.

Such an amazing man and historian. So sorry to hear that his and his wife's ANC interment was cancelled. Please let us know when this is rescheduled. I would not miss it for the world. RIP, Dr. and Mrs. Kaplan! 

Dr. Kaplan was my favorite professor at Kent State who introduced me to concepts in history instead of just names and dates. After I graduated in 1964 as a history major, KSU began the Distinguished Faculty award - I nominated Dr. Kaplan and my husband nominated Hugh Glauser, a theory teacher in the School of Music. Imagine our delight when we learned they SHARED that first award. I'm so happy to learn he and his wife shared so many years together.

Dr. Kaplan was my dissertation advisor (1970), teacher, and friend. A wonderful human being.

With great memories from the US diplomatic history graduate seminars in 1982-1983 at Kent State University. Your legacy is your lectures for the lucky ones and your books for everybody. Farewell from a history student from Greece, dear Larry.

Such a wonderful man and dear mentor. Any update on when he and his wife will be interred at Arlington? We recently buried my stepmother there and they allow crowds of up to 50 now. I would be honored to attend when these great Americans are laid to rest. 

With the passing of another anniversary, memories grow fonder.
Noel Pugach

I just read today about the passing of Dr. Kaplan and am very saddened to hear of it. I was his undergrad student at Kent State in the early 1980s and he was very generous in writing letters of recommendation for me for grad school in history. I kept up with him for a time after I moved to the DC area in the late 1980s. He was also a friend and colleague of my father, Dr. William Hildebrand, a retired professor of English at Kent State. Larry Kaplan shaped my love of history and I am eternally grateful to him for that!  Art Hildebrand

Larry was one of my father Robert Ferrell's best friends. They were at Yale together, and my father was quite fond of telling the story about how they both failed the German entrance exam the first time they took it! Despite this not-so-auspicious start, things worked out quite well for both of them in the field of academia. My father was critical of many people, but he always spoke highly of Larry. In recent years I corresponded with Larry on occasion, particularly surrounding my father's decline and death in 2018, and was very touched when he sent me a signed copy of his latest book. I would be delighted to make contact with his surviving family! ferrellc@gmail.com.  Thank you to his family, who I heard did a lot to care for both Jan and Larry.

I was Dr. K's student at Kent State and we kept up over the years. He also took an interest in my family includng my wife who I met at Kent. He encouraged me to write which I did and am doing. The one area I never penetrated with him was his thinkng on ultimate destinies. My last attempt in this regard, was to send him Lewis: Mere Christianity. He was teacher and scholar. I miss him

Others interested might try to persuade KSU History Department  to find his commencement address after the campus disturbance of the l970's and publish it. Maybe it was the best thing he did for the Unversity as a whole.

There is a Kaplan Fund started by the Department to help the would be historians. A similar one honors Henry Whitney.

Paul Woehrmann
2020

It was during the 1978-1979 academic year at Kent State University that I had the honor and blessing to have had Dr. Lawrence Kaplan for two courses as an M.A. candidate: a colloquium on the Age of Jefferson, and a seminar in Diplomatic History. He is remembered as a kind, brilliant man with a gentle, soft voice, with an understated sense of humor. To a young, African American student who was just beginning her graduate studies, Dr. Kaplan was always a source of great encouragement and rock-solid support. Through those courses, he helped me to indulge my love for international affairs and policy, European History and the NATO alliance. To this day, what was learned from him still resonates and informs my understanding of the world today, as well as the love of history that I have always endeavored to pass on to my high school students. A brilliant scholar and a gentleman. Thank you, Dr. Kaplan!

I was so sorry to hear of Larry and Jan's passing. Larry was a true mentor for me as a graduate student at Georgetown and beyond. He served on my dissertation committee and he was so incredibly encouraging and such an inspiration as a scholar. His fascinating work in both early American diplomatic history and NATO was truly remarkable. Most of all, though, he was a true friend and a great man. I will remember forever our lunches at the Cosmos Club throughout the 20+ years that I knew him where we talked about NATO, his scholarship, my work, and our families. May he and Jan both Rest In Peace and please let me know when the interment gets scheduled so my wife Kelly, who was also very fond of Larry, and I can attend.

I'm very sorry to hear of Dr. Kaplan's passing in April. My wife Maura and I want to extend our condolences to his family.
I met Dr. Kaplan as a undergraduate at Kent in the early 90's. He ended up directing my Honors College thesis on Kissinger.
Upon graduating from Kent and moving to Washington, D.C., I remained in contact with Dr. Kaplan and his continued teaching at Georgetown and work at the Pentagon.
He remained a wonderful gentleman and mentor beyond our academic tie — once I was married, Dr. Kaplan invited my wife and I several times to lunch at his club downtown.
Always the gentleman and scholar, I'm truly privileged to have known him — and to have learned from him.

Dr. Kaplan is remembered at the Ohio Academy of History. The Outstanding Teaching Award lets you know that he was an esteemed and great educator and also a mentor to newer members of our OAH. Please accept the condolences of the Ohio Academy of History.

Larry was a friend of about 35 years. I came to know him when as a government public diplomacy officer, I was tasked with finding good people to send around the world to speak on issues affecting our defense and security. NATO was right up there on the list of important topics in Europe. So I came to know Larry professionally at first, but came to know him and Jan on a personal level soon thereafter.  Larry's insights into our European military alliances were always of interest to our audiences and he constantly received the highest praise for them from everyone he encountered. My favorite recollection is when I was temporarily working at our Embassy in Paris and Larry (and Jan) came on a visit that I had arranged. After several intense days of meetings and talks with French officials, I was preparing to see them off...when Larry said: you arent going anywhere, except to dinner with Jan and me. Jan, ever the gourmet, chose a Michelin one-star restaurant, and there the three of us enjoyed one of the best meals I ever had. Whenever Jan and I met afterwards (even as recently as about less than 2 years ago), she reminded me not only of the restaurant we visited, but what I had ordered for dinner that evening! 

I had the pleasure of visiting Larry, along with my friend Stan Kober, just in mid-February. He was physically frail, but mentally sharp and his sense of humor and irony still sharp. Speaking with him on the phone with him less than a week before hi passed away, he was talking about his preparations for work on an article on Brexit...which was nearly finished.

I will miss my friend and his spirit and humility. I hope to be able to be more like him as I age...

I would like to pass along my family's condolences to Dr. Kaplan's family. There are no words, really, to express my gratitude for the role Dr. Kaplan played in my life as mentor, role model, and friend. I am heartbroken.

I hope to honor his memory through my writing and attempting to be the kind of loving, compassionate person he was to us all.

It is difficult to describe adequately what a great scholar, teacher, and dear friend Larry Kaplan was to me. I was fortunate to have known him as a mentor and professor as a Kent undergraduate, and then to have had him as my dissertation director. He was always dedicated to his students, and was a constant source of both inspiration and support to them. After I received my PhD from Kent and moved on to a career in Washington DC on Capitol Hill, Larry always kept in touch. When he came to Washington we would meet in my office in the Library of Congress, and then have lunch and lively conversations about his on-going research and my work for the Congress. Later, when he and Jan moved to Washington after his retirement from Kent, we kept up these meetings. From time to time he would generously review with me some key historical examples I planned to use in an important memo or report for the Congress. I knew if Larry told me I had, indeed, gotten the historical facts and context right, then what I wrote would be unassailable.

For years after he had moved to Washington, Larry encouraged me to apply for membership in the Cosmos Club. By the time I agreed to apply, Larry was now on the Admissions Committee of the Club and could not then sponsor me for membership. I found alternative sponsors, and Larry secured other “seconds” for my candidacy. The night I was elected to membership, Larry contacted me and said, with great satisfaction, that now three successive generations of diplomatic history professors and their students had become members of Cosmos: Samuel Flagg Bemis--his dissertation director at Yale--Larry and me. I would never place myself in the same scholarly category with Bemis and Larry Kaplan, but Larry’s enthusiasm at my election is indicative of how warm and generous he was to others who had the luck to have known him.

For all he gave to his students, one of the things I am most proud of is that through the efforts of Scott Bills and E. Timothy Smith (two other Kaplan doctoral students) we were able to publish a festschrift, The Romance of History, in honor of Larry. We all recalled Larry telling us how Thomas Bailey, diplomatic history professor at Stanford, would gibe Samuel Bemis about how Bailey’s Stanford students had produced a festschrift for him, but Bemis had never gotten one from his students at Yale. Well, Larry’s doctoral students at Kent made certain that didn’t happen to him. That was the least we could do for one of the greatest scholars and teachers ever to grace a university campus.

I was privileged to make his acquaintance at the Sorbonne on the occasion of a conference to which Pierre Melandri and I had invited him, and I was honored by his subsequent friendliness. He was an impressive scholar and a gentleman.

Larry Kaplan was a dear friend and an inspiration to me and to many others. The way he lived his long and productive life exemplified what we should aspire to as scholars, teachers, and human beings. I shall miss his smile and our talks in the History Department, in the library (where he was frequently found), and in between.

In 2006 I had just defended my PhD and began teaching at Georgetown as a Professorial Lecturer. Despite the vast difference in our experience and stature in the field, Lawrence Kaplan was a gracious colleague who took an interest in my work, helped me with the job market, and inspired my subsequent teaching on transatlantic relations. He was as a distinguished colleague as a scholar, and I was fortunate to know him.

Lawrence Kaplan was a distinguished and generous scholar and a wonderful mentor. I met “Larry” at a SHAFR (Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations) when I was still a graduate student. Larry had such a modest and approachable demeanor that it was easy to engage him in conversation and forget about what an eminent figure he was in the field. I also think Larry had more enthusiasm for my project than my adviser! Over the years I always enjoyed seeing Larry at conferences and archives. He was unfailingly kind and generous with his time and suggestions, helpful in all manner of ways. We shared a passion for understanding the history of the NATO alliance, and appreciation for its historical exceptionalism and contribution to the peace. He was a role model of scholarly integrity, decency, and modesty to me, and I thank God that I had the privilege of knowing him.

My wife Cheryl and I met Larry and Janice in Kent, years ago, through my sister and her husband, who was also a professor at Kent State. We never knew Larry professionally. They were always “Janice-and-Larry” to us, at first acquaintances, and then dear friends. We spent a week at their condo in Cavalaire, France, and very soon after became, as Larry called us, “co-propriétaires”. Over decades, we traveled much with them, of course in the south of France - Cavalaire, St. Tropez, Nice - but many other places as well: Paris numerous times, Leuven in Belgium, Corsica, Malta. On a trip to London we visited four or five clubs Larry could take us to because of their affiliation with the Cosmos Club where he was a member. On trips, Janice would scout our charming hotels and local restaurants, and Larry would often provide an historical perspective, for instance giving a Jeffersonian tour of Paris. Back home we saw each other often, in the Washington area, Philadelphia, New York and Vermont, spending at least 15 New Year’s Eves together including that of the Millennium. It’s sad to lose both friends within a few short months, but in some ways very comforting. We imagine them in some historic corner of heaven enjoying a delicious dinner at sunset on a terrace with a gorgeous view over the water. Janice would be saying, “Larry, pull up your socks!”, resulting in a chuckle from Larry, as usual. We miss them dearly.

Larry and I met shortly after he and Jan moved to the Washington area, brought together by a friend who realized we had mutual interests (the American founding and European security); for years I gave the concluding lecture in his class on NATO. Over time we got together more frequently, often on Sunday afternoons, and I would sometimes invite other people to join us. As I think over those times, one of those meetings especially stands out. In 2014 I met a Chinese journalism student who was here to interview WWII veterans for a story to accompany the WWII commemoration in 2015. "I know someone for you," I told her, and we met for Sunday brunch at a restaurant in Georgetown. It was a beautiful afternoon, and it was inspiring to sit there as they discussed his experience of the war in the Pacific. It was a moment in time--a discussion of a historical tragedy that held hope for the future. It is a fond memory in these times that seem, once again, overcome by tragedy.

As a grad student, I remember DC Watt telling me (a Brit) that Larry was one of the historians of NATO who was, of his generation, most in tune with how the West Europeans thought and operated during the early cold war; and that US historians were lucky to have him in their midst, and had their lines of vision widened by his insights. His work was always inspirational to me, thoughtful, well researched. As a colleague, he was enormously generous - indeed, he even lent us his beautifully situated flat in the south of France for a week. A remarkable career, and a delightful person.

I met Prof. Kaplan for the first time many many years ago - I think it must have been 1988, when I came back to the States on a NATO fellowship. My connection with him was clearly my interest for NATO, but I was also teaching for Kent State in Florence at the time and I think in those pre-email days I must have got in contact with him through our Kent colleagues. We met at the Pentagon and from our very first meeting I was awed by the combination of knowledge and kindness . An impression I kept having every time we would meet, which for quite some time we managed to do on a regular basis.
More recently we had been in touch only haltingly. The last time I saw him was at SHAFR in San Diego and I must have looked surprised to find him there, because he grinned and said "What, Leopoldo, you are surprised I am still alive ?" - a joke that says a lot about his wonderful sense of humour

He was one of the nicest, kindest scholars I have ever met, and I was always impressed by how deeply he felt about the importance of the Transatlantic relationship. His passing away in these dire times seems a grim confirmation that the world might be moving in different, unpredictable, unchartered directions.

On April 10, Good Friday, 2020, I lost my oldest friend in the world. In the summer of 1964, at the age of seventeen, I attended a high school journalism workshop at Kent, where I tracked down Assistant Dean Kaplan to ask about majoring in history at Kent. Although busy with preparations for a Fulbright year in Louvain, he spent half an hour encouraging me to major in history at Kent, a decision I have never regretted. Five years later, when he was Fulbright lecturer at UC London, I spent a few days with Jan and Larry during my Fulbright scholarship at the University of Munich—which Larry had helped to arrange. Along with Herman de Fraye, one of Larry’s Belgian students, he later visited me in Munich where we dined on venison at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten. 

He continued to provide advice and encouragement during my Ph.D. programs, legal studies, jobs, and life, and most recently, my current efforts to create a U.S.-Latin American economic development project. I was fortunate to spend summers with Jan and Larry during their last years in the Washington area. He liked to take me to lunch at the Cosmos Club, of which he was a member, and which is a gathering place for the Washington foreign policy establishment. He was the man I wanted to become without realizing he was unique. Farewell, dear friend. A life well-lived.   

I have known Larry since the 1980s, when he, George Herring, Gary Hess, and several French scholars and one Brit (Geoffrey Warner!) collaborated on an international history of Dienbienphu. With meetings in Kent, London, and Paris (and a rump meeting in Honolulu), we had a wonderful time together, worthy of a night full of stories. But better than the stories and book the project produced was the relationship I developed with Larry and Jan. Over the years we would meet together in Kent, Washington, and elsewhere. We still use Jan's recipes. Larry was a fabulous teacher/scholar. More important, he was one of the finest human beings i have ever come across--anywhere. I will miss him dearly.

I would convey my deepest sympathy to Larry's family, immediate and extended. I've been telling my daughters stories about Larry in the past week. Tales I've related over the years to more than a few people since I left Kent State a newly anointed Ph.D. in 1970. The countless occasions he was an example of how an academic advisor should be, and the myriad of small courtesies he provided as the decades passed. That said, I never failed to aver, by way of introduction to the subject: He was a scholar, a gentleman and mensch withal. 

very sorry my uncle Larry died..i always had very considerable respect for his intellect..he certainly was a champion of diplomacy for our United States government..once again..my very best respects..David

Larry Kaplan welcomed me when I joined the History Department at Kent State University in 1965. It was my first teaching position. Over the three years I was at Kent State Larry became a mentor and guide. He encouraged my work even as we sometimes differed on positions in the discipline. We (together with his wife Jan and my wife Sheila) shared Jewish observances and celebrations. They were gracious to us. We became friends and remained friends over these many years. I appreciate his work, his knowledge, his thoughtfulness, and his wisdom. I will treasure my memories of him.

Larry Kaplan was the graduate advisor for my MA and PhD programs at Kent State from 1975-1981. He was an exciting and passionate teacher, speaking quietly, then suddenly raising his voice to make his points. He taught me how to be a good and thorough researcher as I did papers for his classes and later on my thesis and dissertation. After graduating he continued to support my scholarly efforts and my efforts to get a job teaching college history. In 1997, Scott Bills (another of Larry's students) and I co-edited a series of essays in his honor by his students through the years focusing on both his historical areas of interest titled The Romance of History, which is how he felt about the subject. That book was a labor of love for a true scholar. Once graduated and employed he remained interested in my work and we truly became friends. I brought him to my university as a guest speaker to talk both on Jefferson and NATO. On my research or conference trips to Washington we would always meet to eat and talk. On his trips to Florida to see his daughter we occasionally got together and when he settled in South Florida we had dinner together on a few occasions, still talking about his on going research. He will be greatly missed. My condolences to Debbie and Josh and the rest of his family.

Historians have lost a good person and a brilliant scholar. I had Dr. Kaplan for two classes at Kent State in 1975 and was impressed not only by his passion for and knowledge of his subject, but also by his openness to the perspectives of his students. He was an accomplished writer and a captivating, entertaining lecturer! 

Dr. Kaplan's address to Colorado State University, Nov 2018
CSU is honored to perhaps have been the last campus to get to hear Dr. Kaplan reflect on NATO and international diplomacy. He spoke to a packed community audience and earlier in the day to smaller classroom groups. He radiated joy as students took him on a golf cart tour of campus. They will never forget him! Some of his commitment to learning and gracious ways will have rubbed off on the next generation who will have to take up the task of diplomacy. We celebrate a good man!

My condolences to Larry's children and extended family. Larry was a great scholar and, perhaps more importantly, a great supporter of other scholars. When I came to KSU and got involved with the NATO center, I learned about Larry's great contributions to the department and his creation of the center. Over the years, I got to know him personally and always enjoyed my dinners with him in DC and his visits to KSU. Larry really loved KSU and that always made me realize what a great place it is to teach and work. He had a way of putting things into perspective. He deeply cared for people and was always wanting the best for so many of us professionally and personally. His influences were far and wide and he will continue to nurture the best in people, even after his passing.

I came to know Larry best during the years I served as Department Chair, from 2012 to 2016. Of course, Larry had been teaching in the Georgetown History Department for many years before that. His unfailing courtesy towards others, his dedication to his students, and above all, his remarkable scholarly productivity throughout his entire career were inspirational to us all. My deepest sympathies to Deborah Kaplan and Joshua Kaplan and Larry's entire extended family. He will indeed be missed.

I knew Larry from soon after he began teaching at Georgetown in 1993. We chatted in the History Department corridor now and then. He always left me more educated than he found me, especially if our conversation strayed in the direction of NATO, of which he carried in his head a formidable knowledge. He was a gentle soul, and I will miss him.