Jared (Jerry) H. Kaplan

Jared (Jerry) H. Kaplan, who died in 2020, was an accomplished employee benefits lawyer and a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”), having been inducted into the College in 2004.

Jerry’s accomplishments in employee benefits were concentrated in Employee Stock Ownership Plans (“ESOPs”). He graduated from University of California at Los Angeles in 1960 and Harvard Law School in 1963. He lived into his 80s and made his mark during his long and impactful career as a partner in several Chicago law firms: Ross & Hardies; Grossman Singer Mauck & Kaplan; Keck, Mahin & Cate; and McDermott, Will & Emery, where he practiced from 1994 to 2017. He also was Founder and CEO at Delaware Place Advisory Services, LLC.

Mr. Kaplan was one of the first lawyers who used the ESOP as a means of facilitating corporate mergers and acquisitions. He engineered an ESOP for Cargill Incorporated in 1991 to 1992, a deal of about 750 million dollars. In another major deal, he represented the pilots' union which initiated an ESOP transaction in 1993-1994 with United Airlines, which led to the employees using an ESOP to purchase a controlling interest in the airline, which continued to be publicly owned.

A frequent author and lecturer on ESOPs, Jerry was a co-author of two BNA “Tax Management Portfolios,” entitled, “ESOPs” and “ESOPs in Corporate Transactions,” respectively. He was also a member of the editorial advisory board of Shannon Pratt's “Business Valuation Update,” and served on the board of advisors of the “Corporate Taxation Journal” and on the board of editors of the “Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance,” published by the National Center for Employee Ownership.

Jerry was involved in numerous professional organizations. He served on the ESOP Association’s Valuation Advisory Committee. He was the former chairman of the State of Illinois Advisory Task Force on Ownership Succession and served on the state’s Employee-Owned Enterprise Advisory Council. He served as chairman of the Legislative and Regulatory Advisory Committee of the ESOP Association from 1985 to 1990. Jerry was a past chairman of the Administrative Practice Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section. In 2005, he was named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Jerry was a leading contributor in the ESOP area. Colleagues remember Jerry as a brilliant visionary in his field and as an innovator with great expertise and integrity. He was known as a true pioneer with a mind for business and great skill for explaining complex concepts.

Photo Source: The Decade Book, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel 2000-2010