Kaplan, Rose

Biography

Oscar Kaplan (1915-1994) was a pioneering pollster, best known locally for surveys he and his wife, Rose, conducted about all aspects of San Diego life. He is also an internationally recognized authority on aging, educated at UCLA (B.S.) and UC Berkeley (Ph.D), and was often referred to as the "father of geriatic psychology."

As a gerontologist, Oscar Kaplan authored Mental Disorders in Late Life (1945), the first book on geriatric psychology; was appointed as a special consultant in gerontology to the U.S. Public Heath Service in 1946; helped to initiate the White House Conference on Aging in 1950; founded the American Society of Aging in 1955, and was founding editor of The Gerontologist .

As a pollster, Kaplan founded the Center for Survey Research at San Diego State University in 1948, which he continued to serve until his death, and developed in the same year the first university course in the nation devoted to methods of measuring public opinion.

Rose Kaplan died on November 22, 2000.

From the guide to the Oscar and Rose Kaplan Public Opinion Surveys, 1934 - 1994, (Mandeville Special Collections Library)