Mendel Kaplan dies at 73

Leading South African-Israeli philanthropist Mendel Kaplan died yesterday in Cape Town after suffering a stroke on Tuesday. He was 73.

Honorary president of Keren Hayesod and a former chairman of the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors, Kaplan led numerous Jewish and Zionist projects to fruition over more than 50 years of community service in his native South Africa, Israel and the Diaspora.

"He was a giant in the Jewish world," Ambassador Avi Pazner, World Chairman of Keren Hayesod, said last night. "He had very deeply rooted Jewish and Zionist feelings and he knew how to get what he wanted - and what he wanted was always for the good of the cause."

Friends and colleagues last night described his special combination of vision, generosity and straight talk as the key to Kaplan's capacity to get things done. He led major reforms at the Jewish Agency and donated to numerous projects in Israel and elsewhere including universities, museums, archaeological and social welfare projects. In 1980 he and his brother Robert established the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. Kaplan also founded the South African Jewish Museum, opened by Nelson Mandela in 2000.

Kaplan, who made his fortune in the family business of steel manufacturing, had homes in Jerusalem, Caesarea, Cape Town and the London suburb of Twickenham, to be close to its rugby stadium - another of his great loves. He is survived by his wife, Jill Lazar Kaplan, four children and grandchildren. He will be buried in Cape Town on Sunday.