Marnie Kaplan

Born in Taipei, Taiwan on February 8, 1946, Kwan-Hwa was the youngest child of Hsiao-Hsing Chen, a noted Taiwanese sociologist and Achiao Chen, a writer of Japanese Haiku poetry.

Marnie graduated from Beinu High School (First Girls School) and received her Bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University. She went on to receive a Master’s degree from Berkeley, then traveled to New York City to be a researcher at the Institute for Population Studies at Columbia University.

In New York she met and married her husband, Jeremy Kaplan, and they moved to Virginia on the completion of his Ph.D. In Virginia she became a US citizen, then worked at the State Department, Agency for International Development, while raising their two daughters, Judy and Debbie.

Marnie was a multi-dimensional and broadly talented woman. She was an avid tennis player, an outdoors woman who enjoyed camping and nature, and an artist who painted, and designed the extension to their house. She also wrote the children’s book – “Foxes in the Yard.”

Marnie was warm, caring, loving, generous, artistic, interested in others, interesting, and intelligent. She was widely liked by myriad friends, made friends easily, and kept them all her life.

Marnie is survived by her husband Jeremy, her daughters Judith Kaplan and Deborah Kaplan Gelinas, her grandchildren Maya Hulver, Emma Hulver, Thomas Gelinas, and Charles Gelinas, her sisters Ching Ching Cernada and Margaret Wang, and her brother Earl Chen.

She deeply loved and was deeply loved by her family. She was a cherished wife, mother, sister, and aunt, with an infectious laugh, and an intellect and warmth that touched everyone around her.

A reception for Marnie will be held Wednesday, June 4, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at National Funeral Home, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA 22042. A funeral service will occur Wednesday, June 4, 2025 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA 22042. A graveside service will occur Wednesday, June 4, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA 22042.