Honorable Jordan Kaplan, 92

Honorable Jordan Kaplan, 92

Beloved husband of the late Judy Kaplan, nee Davis. Loving father of Martin (Angela)Kaplan, Julie (Robert) Ewart, Louis (Monica) Kaplan and the late Joseph (Florence) Kaplan. Proud grandfather of Michelle (Josh Wadsworth) Kaplan, Matthew (Jessica) Kaplan, Sarah Kaplan, Joshua Kaplan, Brendan Kaplan, Melissa Ewart, Anne Ewart, Michael Ewart Samantha Kaplan, Amanda Kaplan, Brett Kaplan, Jeremy Kaplan and Meryl Kaplan. Cherished great grandfather of Joanna and Marshall. Dear brother of the late Lois (the late Jerome) Kasdan.

Born in Chicago at the wake of the Great Depression, Jordan Kaplan lived a long and beautiful life with family consistently at its heart, both personally and in his career as an attorney and later a judge.
Both his father Mayer (better known as Mike) and mother Mary (nee Weisman) came from large families of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, and Jordan grew up in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's west side with extended family entwined in the fabric of his daily life. He, his parents and sister Lois shared a home with their maternal grandparents, who emigrated to the U.S. with their children from the village of Proskorov, Ukraine (then known as "White Russia") in the early 1900s, leaving behind pogroms and a lifestyle described to Jordan as reminiscent of "Fiddler on the Roof." Aunts, uncles and cousins also lived close-by.

Asthmatic, frail and very thin as a young boy, Jordan's ever practical and beloved Bubbie (Mirka Weisman) insisted on abandoning traditional kosher practice to enable her grandson to eat bacon --cooked on a coffee to keep the house Kosher -- to strengthen him. While never fully overcoming asthma, he did grow healthier and often credited her pragmatic perspective - perhaps more than the actual bacon -- as helping him to cope with challenges throughout his 92 years. In his own words about his childhood, "we were a close family and those were some of the happiest years of my life," with outdoor games and listening to the Lone Ranger and other radio shows among his best memories. As he got older, adventures into the city to hear live musicians -- including Nat King Cole, Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman - became highlights.

A self-described "mediocre student" through graduation from Austin High School, his love of reading, an innate curiosity and a vague ambition to someday be "an employee carrying a briefcase walking into government building" ultimately propelled him towards a career in law. Beginning his college years at Wright Junior College - where a tough but caring teacher "forced him to learn how to study" - he ultimately earned his Juris Doctorate from the Chicago Kent College of Law, where his credit hours then cost $5 per semester. From the time he was 12 years old, he nearly always had a part-time job and drove a taxi for most of his college years.

Crediting his father with teaching him great tolerance and respect for all, Jordan began his law career at the Legal Aid Bureau, where he gained experience helping people from all walks of life, for over a decade. While his career included some private practice it was primarily in public service, with many years as a prosecutor and attorney for the Village of Morton Grove, and culminating at age 60 with his appointment as an associate judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in its Domestic Relations division. Often presiding over custody cases, Jordan's philosophy was to simply determine what was in the children's best interest, allowing him to make crucial decisions for families isolated from ex-spouses' grievances with each other. He retired at age 81.

While Jordan described his first "dates" as pretend ones with his cousin Judy Gerrick, he married Judy Davis in 1957. Set up by mutual friends, attraction, a shared vitality and a strong sense of adventure caused them to immediately hit it off. They were engaged and wed within a year of meeting, with the two forever disagreeing on who did the actual proposing. They were as passionate in their disagreements as they were in their love throughout 46 years of marriage that ended with her far-too-early death from cancer at age 67. Both credited their mutual respect -- especially as parents -- as paramount to their relationship.

They primarily raised their four children - Joe, Marty, Julie and Lou -- in Morton Grove. Accustomed from his own childhood to living with extended family, Jordan embraced the addition of Judy's mother Mildred to their household and appreciated her many contributions to their lives, which included long family driving vacations and frequent get-togethers with extended family and friends, including big annual 4th of July barbecues. Jordan was a hands-on Dad before it became commonplace, and continually made it clear to his kids that he truly loved spending time with them, making everything from routine drives to trips to the movies into family activities. He was a very adept mechanic, a sports fan, a gambler and a history buff, and he shared his skills, exuberance and knowledge in those areas and many others with his children, and later his 13 grandchildren. His generosity knew no bounds, with Jordan often identifying and meeting his children's and grandchildren's needs before even being asked, from significant financial help to simply listening. From the time his oldest son Joe was diagnosed with cancer through his death 12 years later, Jordan made countless trips to Albany, NY to escort him to doctors' appointments, support him through treatments, and simply spend time with him.

Throughout his retirement years, after Judy's death, Jordan continued to live a fulfilling life through regular weekly activities with family and friends. For more than a dozen years, he enjoyed a beautiful friendship and companionship with Myrna Barnett, a family friend he'd known since childhood. For more than 50 years, he met with many of the same friends every Tuesday night to play cards, only ending with the pandemic. He met a separate group of friends for breakfast every Saturday, and he and good friend Don Sneider regularly went mall-walking. He only began to slow down in his 90s, as multiple health conditions and distress from the deaths of too many loved ones began to take its toll.

Jordan's tremendous inner resilience enabled him to work his way through many dark periods of his life, including the tragically early deaths of his sister, son and wife. When recently asked about his inspiration for bouncing back to life from the tough times, he said after thoughtful consideration that it was "curiosity about what's next."
As he wrote in a journal, "I have been blessed in this life with my parents, grandparents, wife, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, relatives and friends. I have no complaints. God has been good to me. Thank you, dear Lord."

Service Monday 10AM at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd., (at Niles Center Road) Skokie. Interment Westlawn. Memorials in his memory to the Jewish United Fund, 30 S. Wells St., Chicago, IL 60606, www.juf.org. To attend the funeral live stream, please visit our website. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com.