Douglas Paul Kaplan was born in the city of Mount Vernon, NY on March 6, 1951 to Hyman and Freda Kaplan. He was the younger brother of Gary Norton Kaplan and years later, the brother in law to Eileen Kaplan. Douglas was blessed to be an uncle to Tracey Kaplan Truncale, Andrew Kaplan and a Great Uncle to Analise Truncale. The family moved to Yonkers, NY where Douglas lived his childhood through to early adulthood. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1969. Douglas tried college for a short period of time studying art and film, both of which remained a love of his throughout his life. However, he decided he wanted to become a hair stylist, so he enrolled and graduated from beauty school. He worked in White Plains as a hair stylist at Bergdorf Goodman, B. Altman & Co., and La Bottega Beauty Salon until he moved to Florida in 1995.
On July 8, 1979, his life changed forever. Douglas met the love of his life, Anthony(“Tony”) Zaccaro. While they were together, they lived in Kew Garden, NY for 6 years before moving to West Hempstead, NY where they shared a 2 family home with their best friends, Sal Messana and Joe Olivo for 10 years. In September of 1995, Douglas and Tony moved to Coconut Creek, FL where they lived as a family until his passing on July 9, 2020. Upon arriving in Florida, Douglas immediately began working for the Frank Prine Beauty Salons where he loved working for almost 25 years. In August of 2009, Douglas and Tony were married in Provincetown, MA. During their time together, they shared a love for pets, especially dogs (“Angie”, “Louie”, “Jessie”, “Molly”, and “Max”) and let’s not forget their pet African Grey, “lago”. They both shared a love of collecting and selling antiques, and traveling both within the US and Europe. Last summer they took a fabulous 10 day trip to Paris, France which was something they had on their bucket list for a long time. Douglas loved to cook for the both of them and especially for others. They loved to entertain their family and friends throughout the years. It was always a fun time for all. Douglas will be deeply missed. He is survived by his broken hearted, Tony, his niece Tracey, nephew Andrew, and pet Cairn Terrier, “Max”, and “lago”. In lieu of food or flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Douglas Kaplan’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, https://www.stjude.org/.
There are no plans for future services. The health and well being of our friends is most important. Please keep Doug's memory alive in your hearts and smile whenever you think of him. Thank you.
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