For Immediate Release

Monday, August 28, 2023

Patriotic Millionaires Mourn the Passing of Member Woody Kaplan

Chairman of the Patriotic Millionaires recalls “very outgoing, friendly guy” dedicated to progressive causes.

Washington, DC – Today, the Patriotic Millionaires mourn the passing of Woody Kaplan, a dedicated activist and member of the progressive community who fought for the separation of church and state, LGBTQ+ rights, and fair taxation of the ultra-wealthy. He was a member of the Patriotic Millionaires.

Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, Inc., released the following statement:

“I must sadly report the recent passing of our former member Woody Kaplan. Woody was a very outgoing, friendly guy. That is probably why he was very successful in developing and leasing out shopping malls in New England in the early part of his career. He went on to become a fierce advocate for social and economic equality, as well as a prominent activist for the separation of church and state.

I remember seeing him at a party on election night in 2008. Woody was standing by himself. No one wanted to talk to him, believing a fundraiser he hosted for Kay Hagan — as a prominent atheist — had harmed her chances of winning a Senate seat in North Carolina. I told him that I thought he had done the right thing.

It turned out to be a good election for the Democrats. They picked up eight Senate seats, including North Carolina. By the end of the evening, Woody was his usual gregarious self, with his jokes being punctuated by clinking glasses. It surely felt to him, as it did to me, like a vindication of a different kind of faith.

That is the Woody Kaplan that I will remember.”