Published Wednesday, January 25, 2012 12:03 AM

Texas A&M plans service for late professor Howard Kaplan

By VIMAL PATEL
vimal.patel@theeagle.com

Howard Kaplan was called the ultimate scholar: Even at 79, the Texas A&M distinguished sociology professor and expert in the study of deviant behavior planned books and other projects.

"In spite of all this, he was never late for dinner or missed a ball game or dance recital for the kids," said Diane Kaplan, his wife of 41 years.

After spending the last 23 years of a 50-plus-year academic career at Texas A&M, Kaplan died in October after contracting sepsis, an infection in which bacteria overwhelm the bloodstream.

Texas A&M's sociology department is planning a public memorial service for him at 1 p.m. Sunday at the university's All Faiths Chapel.

Kaplan wrote five books, edited four, and penned more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He was internationally recognized as a leader in the social psychology of mental health.

His wife recalled a study he led that began in 1971 in which several thousand seventh-graders in the Houston Independent School District were surveyed about self-attitudes.

Those same students were contacted again in their 20s and 30s, and now are in their 50s. The study examined how kids' attitudes about themselves contributed to their life paths and decision to engage in deviant behavior such as drug abuse.

"He really believed in longitudinal research," Diane Kaplan said.

That research may live on. A memorial scholarship fund has been set up, Diane Kaplan said, and it may allow for graduate students to keep examining the results of the study.

Howard Bernard Kaplan was born in 1932 in New York City to Samuel and Esther Kaplan. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from New York University.

He moved to Houston in 1958 as a post-doctoral fellow in the Baylor College of Medicine's psychiatry department, and stayed there until joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1988.

In addition to his wife, Kaplan is survived by son Samuel Kaplan, daughter Rachel Kaplan and grandsons Calvin and Cormac Kaplan.

Memorial: A service for Kaplan is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at the university's All Faiths Chapel

Scholarship: To give to the Howard B. Kaplan Memorial Scholarship, go to: http://sociweb.tamu.edu/kapmem.php

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