Dr. Sidney Kaplan passed peacefully at age 101 on December 13, 2018. Sid was born in Toronto on June 10, 1917, graduating from Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto and the University of Toronto School of Medicine.

He served as a Captain in the Canadian Army and returned to Toronto in 1946 at the end of the war to marry his beloved Shirley (Schipper). They came west and settled and raised their family in Vancouver. Shirley and Sid celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary in June 2018.

Sid was totally committed to being a physician. He practised family medicine for over 40 years and took exceptional pride in his work, personally attending to each of his devoted patients. He was a faculty member in UBC Medicine and was instrumental in setting up family medicine as a specialty field of study. He first volunteered then worked part-time as a gerontologist at Shaughnessy Hospital in the Veteran’s ward.

Sid had a number of loves. He loved tennis, bow ties, Manzanillo Mexico, his cabin at Chilliwack and his dog Casey. His most abiding and most encompassing love however was for his family. He was devoted, attentive and loving to his parents, his brothers and sisters, his sons and daughters, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, his nieces and nephews, his extended Schipper family, but most deeply to his wife Shirley, who was the center of his world.

Sid is survived by his wife Shirley, his daughter Lynn (the late Marvin Catzman), his sons Tuvia (Janice), Bill (Etti), and Boruch (Riki), and their sons and daughters and grandchildren. He had 20 grandchildren and more than 50 great-grandchildren. All adored him for his generosity, open love and unconditional never-ending support.

Sid lived a long exemplary life and his memory will bless the lives of those who knew him and loved him forever.

The Sidney S. Kaplan Prize in Family Medicine was endowed by Sidney’s family at UBC in 2002, in celebration of his 85th birthday.

Your gift will pay tribute to Sidney’s life by supporting students enrolled in the MD undergraduate program who achieve academic excellence in the Department of Family Medicine.