OBITUARY Raymond Kaplan December 18, 1926 – November 30, 2018 Raymond Kaplan, age 91, of River Vale, New Jersey passed away on Friday November 30, 2018. Ray was a retired Aerospace Engineering Executive. A US Navy veteran of WWII, he received his undergraduate engineering degree from MIT and did his graduate work at Columbia University. While studying at MIT, he met Moshe Arens (future Defense and Foreign Minister is various Israeli governments) and under his influence, became a lifelong ardent Zionist. As a member of the National Executive of the Brit Trumpeldor / Betar Zionist Youth Group, he led a group of Betar volunteers to Israel during the War of Independence in 1948. In 1950, he was a founding member of Mevuot, a border settlement in the Judean Hills of Israel. He lived in Israel for several years with his wife Rebecca, who he met in Israel, and returned to the US in 1952with his wife and baby daughter, Ruth, to pursue his engineering career. As an Aerospace Engineer, he was involved in a number of critical defense programs, supplying Guidance and Navigation Systems to the US armed forces. In the early 1970’s as a Program Manager for his company, Siger/Kearfott, he worked with the Israel Ministry of Defense on a number of critical programs, supplying Guidance and Navigation Systems for Israel Air Force and the Israel Navy. After his retirement in 1993, he became an active volunteer in a number of organizations and endeavors. He became Vice-President of Kulanu, a national organization devoted to finding and helping lost Jewish communities return to their Heritage. As a volunteer in the Senior Net Program at the JCC in Tenafly, he was a long time instructor and coach teaching Senior Citizens the modern wonders of the computer world. He was an active member of Temple Israel Community Center in Cliffside Park, where he served as Vice-President and Treasurer for many years. He was also an active leader of the Winston Towers Jewish Holiday Association, which organized and provided High Holiday services for hundreds of residents at the Palisadium in Cliffside Park. For a number of years, he interviewed holocaust survivors at Ramapo College. Their harrowing stories were videotaped and supplied to the Holocaust Research Center at Yale University. A life-long Zionist, he was a member of the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for a Safe Israel. In addition, as a violinist since age five, he played in community Symphony Orchestras all his adult life. He played with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestras for many years and played chamber music regularly with a local String Quartet. Ray’s wife of 66 years Rebecca had predeceased him. He is survived by two children Ruth and Charles as well as two granddaughter’s Emily and Lindsey Darwish, and sister Thea Saltus and brother Asa Kaplan. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.guttermanmusicantwien.com for the Kaplan family. Send Sympathy Gifts Show Your Support Share Obituary share to facebook share by email share link Receive Notifications
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Raymond Kaplan 2018.
Gutterman and Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors
Death notice for the town of: hackensack, state: New Jersey