Thomas Scott Kaplan (born September 14, 1962) is an American
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...
businessman, philanthropist and art collector. Kaplan is the world's largest private collector of
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
's works.
Kaplan is the chairman and
chief investment officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...
of The Electrum Group LLC, a New York City-based investment, advisory and asset management firm with a focus on the natural resources sector. Since 2017, he has been the chairman of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), a Geneva-based foundation established by France and the United Arab Emirates.
Early life and education
Born in New York City, Kaplan is the son of Lillian Jean Berger and Jason "Jay" Kaplan. He and his family are Jewish.
In his youth, he developed a passion for
wildlife conservation
Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habita ...
and for
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
, which decades later inspired him, respectively, to found the field conservation group
Panthera
''Panthera'' is a genus within the family (biology), family Felidae that was named and described by Lorenz Oken in 1816 who placed all the spotted cats in this group. Reginald Innes Pocock revised the classification of this genus in 1916 as co ...
, and to establish The Leiden Collection, the world's largest private grouping of works from the
Dutch Golden Age
The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...
. At
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, Kaplan earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in history. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Malayan counterinsurgency and the manner in which commodities influence strategic planning. While earning his PhD, he worked as an analyst covering Israeli companies publicly traded in the U.S. On a business trip, he met his future wife, Dafna Recanati (the daughter of Israeli investor
Leon Recanati
Leon Recanati ( he, ליאון רקנאטי; born May 10, 1948) is an Israeli businessman and philanthropist.
Biography
Leon Recanati is the son of Mathilda and Daniel Recanati.Institut Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey (), commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, is a private boarding school in Rolle, Switzerland. Founded in 1880 by Paul-Émile Carnal on the site of the 14th-century Château du Rosey in the town of Rolle in the canto ...
. Her mother, artist Mira Recanati, introduced him to Israeli investor Avi Tiomkin, who hired him as a junior partner in 1991. Kaplan had impressed Tiomkin by correctly predicting
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
's 1990
invasion of Kuwait
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...
several years before it took place. When Tiomkin decided to concentrate his investments solely in Israel in 1993, Kaplan moved on to pursue his own entrepreneurial ventures.
Career
Inspired by Marc Faber, who held that precious metals were insurance against the "monetary foolishness" of central governments, Kaplan focused on natural resources investing. In 1993, he founded Apex Silver Mines to capitalize on the improving supply/demand fundamentals of metals. While he was chairman and chief executive officer of Apex, his team discovered and financed the San Cristobal deposit in Bolivia, now one of the largest producers of silver and zinc in the world. Kaplan retired from Apex Silver at the end of 2004 to focus on his new exploration projects.
In 2003, a company related to Kaplan became the largest investor in African Platinum Plc (then known as Southern African Resources Plc), enabling it to explore and develop one of the largest platinum group metals projects in South Africa. In 2007, Kaplan sold his position in African Platinum as part of a transaction in which the company was acquired by Impala Platinum Limited, at a valuation of $580 million.
Also in 2003, Kaplan founded Leor Exploration & Production LLC, which became the fastest-growing privately held
hydrocarbon exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology.
Exploration methods
Vis ...
and production company in the United States. In 2007, Leor’s
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
assets were sold to Encana (now
Ovintiv
Ovintiv Inc. is a hydrocarbon exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Denver, United States. It was founded and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, under its previous name Encana. It was the largest energy co ...
) for $2.55 billion.
Kaplan first began investing heavily in gold in 2000. Since the sales of African Platinum and Leor in 2007, Kaplan has focused on the Electrum Group. Its exploration arm, Electrum Ltd., which he co-founded with Dr. Larry Buchanan, owns a diversified international portfolio of gold exploration assets. Its other entities hold significant interests in several publicly traded companies, including NovaGold Resources and Gabriel Resources Ltd., two companies that own several of the largest proven gold resources in the world. Among its private interests, the Electrum Group is the controlling shareholder of Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining Corporation, which owns the Sunshine Mine in Idaho, the most prolific silver mine in U.S. history, as well as the Los Gatos silver-zinc deposit in Mexico, which it is developing in partnership with Dowa of Japan. Gatos Silver went public in October 2020, raising $170 million.
In August 2020, it was reported that
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...
's
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...
had made an investment in
Barrick Gold
Barrick Gold Corporation is a mining company that produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has mining operations in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Democrati ...
, NovaGold's joint venture partner in the
Donlin Gold mine
The Donlin Gold Project is a large, undeveloped, refractory gold deposit located north of Crooked Creek, Alaska, on the Kuskokwim River, about northwest of Anchorage. The deposit has proven and probable reserves estimated to be 33.9 million ou ...
project in Alaska. This prompted Kaplan to recall the positive impact of Buffett's purchase of silver
bullion
Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from t ...
at the time he was taking his silver mining company public in 1997.
As a leading investor in gold, Kaplan is credited with correctly predicting that gold prices would increase. His investment strategy and commitment to gold led ''
Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' to refer to him as "Gold's Evangelist." He says his "mantra" is to "go for the great assets that give you tremendous underlying leverage to your theme... but only in jurisdictions that will allow you to keep the fruits of the leverage." Analysts have referred to his highlighting the importance of jurisdictional risks in the mining industry as the "Kaplan Doctrine".
Leiden Collection
Kaplan's passion for the Dutch masters began in his early childhood. Kaplan and his wife, Dafna Recanati Kaplan, began to collect the art of the Dutch Golden Age in 2003. In that year, they acquired their first Dutch painting:Gerrit Dou's jewel-like ''Portrait of Dirck van Beresteyn''. Their Leiden Collection is now among the largest private assemblages of Dutch art in the world, and numbers more than 250 paintings and drawings, most of which are included in a free, high-resolution online catalogue. The Kaplans' intention was to establish a "lending library for old masters", including loans for special exhibitions as well as loans to bolster long-term installations. The Collection, including major works such as ''Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes'' and ''Minerva in Her Study'', was featured in a three-part documentary entitled "Looking for Rembrandt," which aired on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in April 2019 on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the master’s death.
The Collection focuses on Rembrandt and his School, illuminating the personalities and themes that shaped the Golden Age over five generations. How the Collection developed is explained in Kaplan's personal account of the journey: "A Portrait in Oil". At the core of the Collection is a group of fifteen paintings and two drawings by Rembrandt himself, and key members of his circle including his teacher,
Pieter Lastman
Pieter Lastman (1583–1633) was a Dutch language, Dutch painter. Lastman is considered important because of his work as a painter of history pieces and because his pupils included Rembrandt and Jan Lievens. In his paintings Lastman paid carefu ...
, and studio-mate
Jan Lievens
Jan Lievens (24 October 1607 – 4 June 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who was associated with his close contemporary Rembrandt, a year older, in the early parts of their careers. They shared a birthplace in Leiden, training with Pieter La ...
. It includes around 250 paintings and drawings, mainly by 17th-century artists based in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
. This includes thirteen paintings from all phases of the career of
Gerard Dou
Gerrit Dou (7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his ' ...
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , #Pronunciation of name, see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period Painting, painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class, middle-class life. ...
and ''Hagar and the Angel'' by
Carel Fabritius
Carel Pietersz. Fabritius (; bapt. 27 February 1622 – 12 October 1654) was a Dutch painter. He was a pupil of Rembrandt and worked in his studio in Amsterdam. Fabritius, who was a member of the Delft School, developed his own artistic style ...
. A catalog of the Dou works in the collection, with technical analyses, appeared in 2014. In January 2017 an online catalog of the collection went live, with information on over 175 of the works in the collection.
Gallery
''The Five Senses'' by Rembrandt van Rijn
At a 2015 auction in
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 53,105. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.
History
The initial patent for the land that w ...
a European bidder bought ''The Fainting Patient'' or ''Smell'' for $870,000, though its pre-auction estimate had only been $800. This was identified as an early work by Rembrandt, dating to 1624 and belonging to his '' The Five Senses'' series. The Leiden Collection then immediately acquired the work for $5 million, which was publicized in 2016. Prior to the purchase the collection already owned ''Hearing'' and ''Touch'' from the series, whilst ''Sight'' is in the
Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. One highlight is its collection of fijnschilder paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Just like the city, the museum combines a classical appearance with a contemp ...
in Leiden and the whereabouts of ''Taste'' is unknown. ''Smell'' bears Rembrandt's monogram (RF or RHF, ''Rembrandt Harmensz. fecit''), representing the master's earliest known signature, and is similar in dimensions and style to the other known works in the series. The three Leiden Collection works were exhibited at the Getty Museum in 2016, and the complete extant set of four were reunited for shows at the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
and
Rembrandthuis
The Rembrandt House Museum ( nl, Museum Het Rembrandthuis) is a museum located in a former house in the Jodenbreestraat, in the center of Amsterdam. Between 1639 and 1658, the house was occupied by the well-known Dutch painter Rembrandt van Ri ...
in 2017.
Exhibitions
Notable past and upcoming exhibitions of the Leiden Collection include:
* 14 February 2019 – 18 May 2019, ''Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre'',
Louvre Abu Dhabi
The Louvre Abu Dhabi ( ar, اللوفر أبوظبي; french: Louvre Abou Dabi) is an art museum located on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It runs under an agreement between the UAE and France, signed in March 2007, that a ...
,
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
* 5 September 2018 – 13 January 2019, ''The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection'',
The State Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
* 28 March 2018 – 22 July 2018, ''The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection'',
Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just oppo ...
,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
* 23 September 2017 – 25 February 2018, ''Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection'',
Long Museum
The Long Museum () is a private art museum in Shanghai, China, founded by Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei. The museum has two locations in Shanghai: the Long Museum Pudong and Long Museum West Bund.Long Museum websiteAbout Long Museum/ref>
In ...
West Bund,
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
* 17 June 2017 – 3 September 2017, ''Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection'',
National Museum of China
The National Museum of China () flanks the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The museum's mission is to educate about the arts and history of China. It is directed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic ...
,
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
* 22 February 2017 – 22 May 2017, ''Le siècle de Rembrandt'',
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, Paris
* 11 March 2014 – 31 August 2014, ''Gerrit Dou. The Leiden Collection from New York'',
Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. One highlight is its collection of fijnschilder paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Just like the city, the museum combines a classical appearance with a contemp ...
, Leiden
Philanthropy and activism
Foreign policy
Kaplan is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
. He also belongs to the International Council of the
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located within the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in Oc ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, where Kaplan, scholar
Graham Allison
Graham Tillett Allison Jr. (born March 23, 1940) is an American political scientist and the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is renowned for his contribution in the late ...
and American General
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus (; born November 7, 1952) is a retired United States Army general and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to h ...
created the Recanati–Kaplan Foundation Fellows Program for intelligence officers from around the globe. All applicants must come with the personal recommendation of their agency heads. A similar program was established in 2020 at the
Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs
The Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs (formerly the Yale University Jackson Institute for Global Affairs) is a professional school of Yale University that specializes in global affairs.
Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the school's mission ...
, the Petraeus-Recanati-Kaplan Fellowship, which brings select special military operators to
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
for a one-year global affairs master's. In 2022, the Recanati-Kaplan Applied History Initiative was created at the Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum, a think-tank based at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, "to inform Middle East policy with deep historical insight".
In 2018, along with French philosopher and activist
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy (; ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the " Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. His opinions, political acti ...
, Kaplan co-founded Justice for Kurds (JFK), a New York-based, not-for-profit advocacy group that seeks to educate and raise public awareness about the Kurdish cause in the U.S. and globally. Kaplan serves as Chairman of the group. JFK’s Advisory Council features policymakers, journalists, intellectuals, diplomats, military commanders, and artists.
Kaplan, along with
Sheldon Sheldon may refer to:
* Sheldon (name), a given name and a surname, and a list of people with the name
Places Australia
* Sheldon, Queensland
*Sheldon Forest, New South Wales
United Kingdom
*Sheldon, Derbyshire, England
*Sheldon, Devon, England
* ...
and
Miriam Adelson
Miriam Adelson (born 10 October 1945) is an Israeli American physician and billionaire. After her marriage to American business magnate Sheldon Adelson in 1991, she became a donor to conservative political causes in the United States and Israel ...
, contributed three-quarters of the 1.7 million dollar revenue of
United Against Nuclear Iran
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization in the United States. Its stated objective is to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Along wi ...
(UANI) in 2013. In 2017 Kaplan gave a speech at a conference for the organization in which he compared Iran to a
reticulated python
The reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') is a python species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the world's longest snake, and is among the three heaviest. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of its w ...
devouring a
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
as well as saying that the Iranian government because of their
Shiite Muslim
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...
beliefs "pursue a strategy of 'taqiyya', or religious dissimulation" to conceal its imperial aims.
Community, culture, and antiquities
Kaplan served as president (2009–2012) and chairman of the board of directors (2012–2015) of the
92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...
, a prominent Jewish community and cultural center in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. His wife Daphne and Robert Gilson conceived of the Recanati–Kaplan Program for Excellence in the Arts, which funds scholarships based on artistic merit for children and teens to study at the 92Y's School of the Arts.
In 2014, along with the Florence Gould Foundation, the Kaplans helped fund the creation of Albertine, a bookshop housed in the historic
Payne Whitney House
The Payne Whitney House is a historic building at 972 Fifth Avenue, south of 79th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed in the High Italian Renaissance style by architect Stanford White of the firm McKi ...
of the
French Embassy
This is a list of diplomatic missions of France, excluding honorary consulates. France's permanent representation abroad began in the reign of Francis I, when in 1522 he sent a delegation to the Swiss. Despite its reduced presence following dec ...
on
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
in New York City. Albertine has the largest collection of French-language books and English translations in the U.S. In 2022, Villa Albertine, a French government-sponsored residency program for artists and intellectuals in the U.S., launched the Recanati-Kaplan Prize to "support artistic and intellectual exchange between the United States, France, and the Arab world". The prize awards one recognized individual from the Arab world with a residency project in the U.S.
In 2015, after the passing of his boyhood friend, Simon Marsh, Kaplan parted with the two
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
Mark I fighter planes that he and Marsh had as partners restored with Historic Flying of Duxford, Cambridgeshire. The second of the planes, Spitfire N3200, was gifted in the presence of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, where it had last flown as the personal aircraft of the Commander of 19 Squadron, Geoffrey Dalton Stephenson, later personal pilot to King George VI. The first, Spitfire P9374, flown by Captain Peter Cazenove over Dunkirk, was sold at auction at Christies London, where it achieved a record price for any spitfire at auction, the proceeds of which were donated for the benefit of the RAF Benevolent Society, Panthera, Oxford's WildCRU and Stop Ivory.
In 2017, Kaplan became the chairman of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), a Geneva-based foundation dedicated to the implementation of preventive, emergency response, and restoration programs for cultural property in danger of destruction, damage or looting. A joint initiative of the governments of France and the United Arab Emirates, its board of directors includes representatives of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, China, international institutions, and private donors.
On October 29, 2019, at a ceremony in New York in which Princess Dana Firas of Jordan received the 2019 Watch Award, the
World Monuments Fund
World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...
bestowed upon Kaplan the Hadrian Award, a recognition established in 1988 to honor international leaders who have advanced the preservation of world art and architecture.
Conservation
Kaplan is the executive chairman of
Panthera Corporation
Panthera Corporation, or Panthera, is a charitable organization devoted to preserving wild cats and their ecosystems around the globe. Founded in 2006, Panthera is devoted to the conservation of the world’s 40 species of wild cats and the vast ec ...
, a charity which he and his wife co-founded with
Alan Rabinowitz
Alan Robert Rabinowitz (December 31, 1953 – August 5, 2018) was an American zoologist who served as the president, CEO, and chief scientist at Panthera Corporation, a nonprofit conservation organization devoted to protecting the world's 40 w ...
in 2006. Panthera is devoted to preserving the big cats and their ecosystems and has been recognized as a leading force in felid conservation. Conservationist
Doug Tompkins
Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 – December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He co-founded the North Face Inc, Esprit and various environmental group ...
has referred to Panthera as "the foremost big cat conservation organization in the world," with ''
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
'' saying Panthera "represents the most comprehensive effort of its kind in wildcat conservation." For his work as an environmentalist, Kaplan was the recipient of the "Hero of the Year Award" by the IWFF in 2012. In an interview with
David Rubenstein
David Mark Rubenstein (born August 11, 1949) is an American billionaire businessman. A former government official and lawyer, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group,Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...
's "Peer-to-Peer Conversations" series, Kaplan said, "If I have one passion, which is even greater than Rembrandt, it would be wildlife conservation..." In an interview with Sotheby's, Kaplan connected his two passions: "I see the common denominator between the power of a Rembrandt and the power of when you first encounter a tiger in the wild. It's beauty."
Kaplan and his wife Dafna helped establish a felid conservation program at Oxford University in collaboration with David MacDonald. In 2009, the couple endowed the Recanati-Kaplan Center at Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, the WildCRU, and the university's Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice, which offers young conservationists from developing countries access to training at Oxford. In February 2012, Oxford's WildCRU was awarded the
Queen's Anniversary Prize
The Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education are a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to universities and colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom. Uniquely it forms part of the Bri ...
for Higher Education in recognition of WildCRU's outstanding work in wildlife and environmental conservation. In July 2015, a trophy hunter killed Cecil the lion, who was being studied by the WildCRU's Kaplan-funded Hwange Lion Research Project in Zimbabwe.
The Kaplans also founded the Orianne Society, focused on the conservation of the
eastern indigo snake
The eastern indigo snake (''Drymarchon couperi'') is a species of large, non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. Native to the southeastern region of the United States, it is the longest native snake species in North America.
Taxonomy an ...
and its habitat, the last remaining long-leaf pine forests of the
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
. As part of this effort, the Kaplans created the Orianne Indigo Snake Preserve in Georgia through the purchase and donation of 2,500 acres of the snake’s winter habitat. In recognition for their work in wildlife conservation, in 2014 the Kaplans were awarded the New Species Award, and the naming of the newly discovered Orianne's Tree Snake, by the
African Rainforest Conservancy
The African Rainforest Conservancy (ARC), works to conserve and restore African rainforests, particularly focusing on the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania located about southeast of Mount Kilimanjaro. These lush mountains are among the oldest ...
.
In October 2017, the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF), a conservation organization based in Iran, severed ties with Panthera in response to the 2017 UANI speech Kaplan had made about the Iranian government. In a letter they sent to Panthera: “His allegations about our country are absolutely baseless and his statements are insulting to our country and its people,” the letter continued. “We are very sorry to see personal politics have a negative impact on conservation, but these are unusual times.” The activists ended up getting arrested by the Iranian government under charges of treason, though they have maintained their innocence since.
On November 12, 2018, at the inaugural
Paris Peace Forum
The Paris Peace Forum is a French non-profit organisation created in March 2018. The organisation hosts an annual gathering of world leaders and heads of international organisations, as well as leaders from civil society and private sectors and t ...
, Kaplan launched the Indian Ocean Tortoise Alliance (IOTA), a
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
-based initiative dedicated to the conservation of the
Aldabra tortoise
The Aldabra giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles. It is one of the largest tortoises in the world.Pritchard ...
and its
rewilding
Rewilding may refer to:
*Rewilding (conservation biology), the return of habitats to a natural state
**Rewilding Europe, a programme to do so in Europe
*** Pleistocene rewilding, a form of species reintroduction
**Rewilding Institute, an organiz ...
in the other countries where it previously existed.
In 2020, Panthera launched a campaign called "Leopard Spotted" to encourage wearers of leopard print to promote awareness of the animal's plight on social media and donate to conservation efforts via a royalties system. Kaplan told ''The New Yorker'', "We're not interested in discouraging people from using leopard print. To the contrary, what we want to do is make people understand that, while celebrating the leopard, they can also give back. If royalties were paid for any fashion statement like this, there would be more than enough money to save the leopard."
Distinctions
In March 2014, Kaplan was awarded the rank of ''Chevalier'' in the ''
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
'' of France, the country's highest civilian distinction. In presenting the decoration, the French Ambassador to the United States, François Delattre, said of Kaplan: "Through your multifaceted life and your support for an incredible array of causes, I believe you are the very definition of a game changer and Renaissance man - a young Renaissance man: as Chairman of the Y, as an environmentalist in Brazil, as an entrepreneur, a historian, a philanthropist, an art collector and a politically engaged individual."
In March 2017, Kaplan was decorated as a ''Commandeur'' in the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
by France's Minister of Culture,
Audrey Azoulay
Audrey Azoulay (; born 4 August 1972) is a French civil servant and politician who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2017, becoming the second female le ...
, at a ceremony at the Louvre Museum. The award was given in recognition of the Kaplan family’s contribution to the arts in France as well as globally.
In September 2018, Kaplan was awarded the rank of Officer in the
Order of Orange-Nassau
The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands.
The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...
for his efforts in disseminating Dutch culture and building bridges between people through art.
Renée Jones-Bos
Regina Veronica Maria "Renée" Jones-Bos (; born 20 December 1952) is a Dutch civil servant and diplomat. She served as Ambassador of the Netherlands to Russia from 2016 to 2019. Previously, Jones-Bos was Ambassador to the United States in Washin ...
, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Russia, presented the distinction to Kaplan in the Saint Petersburg office of
Mikhail Piotrovsky
Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky (russian: Михаил Борисович Пиотровский) is the Director of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Life and career
He was born in Yerevan in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republi ...
, Director of the Hermitage Museum.
Personal life
Kaplan is married to Dafna Recanati Kaplan, daughter of Israeli artist Mira Recanati and investor
Leon Recanati
Leon Recanati ( he, ליאון רקנאטי; born May 10, 1948) is an Israeli businessman and philanthropist.
Biography
Leon Recanati is the son of Mathilda and Daniel Recanati.
Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world.
It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...