Richard Kaplan's father passed away when he was 3, and his mother Freda single-handedly raised him, his brother and his sister in a house on Macdonald Rd.  At DHS Richard was very well liked and respected for his polite, decent, and kindly manner and his quiet dignity.

After school Richard took his B.Com degree at the University of Natal and then qualified as an Accountant.  

In 1969 Richard married Adelle Said, who had first met when she was sixteen:  

Richard and Adelle had two sons, Mark in 1980 and Nicholas in 1982.  There are three grandchildren.

Richard spent his entire career as an accountant.   He started at the firm E.C. Corlett and Partners, which merged with Hackner Benn, which merged with Kessel Feinstein, and eventually became Grant Thornton. Richard held the position of Partner for several decades,  during which he had reputation in the field for his utmost integrity and professional ethics.  For the last 20 years of his life he was the Financial Director for NFM, Non Ferrous Metals in Durban.

Richard had two great passions in his life.  The first was his absolute devotion to his family. As one of his sons tells us, "It is no exaggeration to say that my dad's whole life and purpose of being was to care for and be present and available for his children, grandchildren and family".  This is a photo of Richard with his sons, Mark on the left and Nicholas on the right:

Richard's second passion and source of enjoyment was his Jewish heritage and involvement in the Durban Synagogue.  He was an active member of the congregation his whole life, and contributed his time and skills to a number of community organizations over many decades.

Richard attended our 50 Year anniversary in Durban in 2011, and he very much hoped to attend our delayed 60 year anniversary in Israel in 2022, but unfortunately he was receiving treatment for a cancer at the time and did not feel well enough to travel.  However he requested that we include him in all the program information sent to the  participants, so that he could follow along as our itinerary progressed.

Unfortunately Richard suffered a major heart attack in July 2023, and succumbed to an infection which he was physically too weak to fight on 6 February, 2024,  in Johannesburg.   As his lifelong DHS friend Jonathan says, "Richard was the most friendly, sweet, decent, kind and polite boy at school, and he remained the same throughout his entire life.  He was always dignified, considerate, and honourable. Everybody loved him".

Richard Kaplan is survived by Adelle, his wife of 54 years; his sons Mark and Nicholas; and Mark's wife Belinda and their three children.

[Special thanks to Richard's family for their help with this In Memory notice]